Oil snaps brutal losing streak after EIA reports supply surprise

U.S. crude-oil futures settled higher Wednesday after a U.S. supply report showed a smaller-than-expected increase in crude inventories.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December CLZ4, +0.23%   rose $1.49, or 1.9%, to settle at $78.68 a barrel. That snapped a four-session losing streak that took prices to their lowest in three years. It was also oil’s largest one-day gain in nearly two weeks.

December Brent crude LCOZ4, +0.14% on London’s ICE Futures exchange gained 13 cents, or 0.2%, to finish at $82.95 a barrel. That put an end to four straight sessions of losses that had sent Brent to a four-year low on Tuesday.