Oil futures ended a choppy trading session with gains Wednesday as signs of strong demand outweighed a smaller-than-expected drop in U.S. inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose 43 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $49.59 a barrel, recovering from earlier weakness. The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels last week, versus analyst expectations for a decline of more than 3 million barrels. The data, however, showed a pickup in refinery demand for crude and an increase in demand for gasoline.
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