Oil prices gained Wednesday as U. S. crude inventories decreased last week.
Energy Information Administration said Wednesday crude supplies shrank 200,000 barrels to 360 million barrels for the week ending Sept 6. Gasoline supplies rose 1.7 million barrels to 217.6 million barrels.
Worries about Syria eased as U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday night that the United States will make joint efforts with Russia and other partners to work on a United Nations resolution making Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government give up chemical weapons.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a proposal Monday, asking Syria to "place its chemical weapons stockpiles under international control so they can be destroyed." Syrian Foreign Minister said Tuesday in Moscow that his government had agreed to the Russian initiative.
Obama also asked Congress to postpone a vote on the military strike against Syria, and let more time for diplomacy to work.
On the economic front, U.S. mortgage applications tumbled 13.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Sept. 6.
Moreover, U.S. wholesale inventories and sales ticked up in July, according to the Commerce Department. Inventories at the wholesale level edged up 0.1 percent to 500 billion U.S. dollars in July from the revised June level, while wholesale sales also rose 0.1 percent.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery moved up 17 cents to settle at 107.56 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude for October delivery added 25 cents to close at 111. 5 dollars a barrel.
