Crude oil inventories in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped to 340.3 million barrels, the lowest level since 1983, according to the Department of Energy.

Stocks fell by 8.9 million barrels, marking the third-largest draw on record.

The reductions are part of a US programme to loan 172 million barrels from the facility in an effort to ease fuel prices, which recently surged to multi-year highs. -OGN/TradeArabia News Service