Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Wednesday as industry data showed a larger-than-expected drawdown in US crude stockpiles.

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US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 67 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $95.65 a barrel by 00:09 GMT. Brent crude futures rose 33 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $104.73 a barrel.

After settlement on Tuesday, industry group the American Petroleum Institute said crude stocks in the United States fell by 4 million barrels last week. That is four times the 1 million barrel decline expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Gasoline inventories fell by 1.1 million barrels compared with expectations of a build of 3.5 million barrels, the API data showed. The US government's Energy Information Administration releases its weekly oil report later on Wednesday.

Prices were also lifted by expectations of a tighter gas squeeze in Europe from Wednesday after Russia's Gazprom said it would cut flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to a fifth of capacity.

European Union countries on Tuesday approved a weakened emergency plan to curb demand, after striking compromise deals to limit reductions for some countries.

(Edited by : Sangam Singh)

First Published:Jul 27, 2022 6:39 AM IST