US oil price pops to $65 for the first time since 2014 as stockpiles fall for tenth week

US oil prices popped to a level not seen since 2014 after a report showed American crude inventories dropped for the tenth week in a row.

West Texas Intermediate, the US crude benchmark, hit $65.42 a barrel today before falling back down by about a dollar.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil prices briefly leapt to $70.43 a barrel, a fresh three-year high.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said US inventories fell to 411.6m barrels, the lowest since February 2015.

The EIA said US production rose to 9.9m barrels per day (bpd), nearing an all time high of just over 10m bpd set in 1970.

“WTI and Brent crude oil ticked up in the wake of the EIA report, which showed a smaller decline than anticipated in US oil inventories,” said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets.

“Oil stockpiles in America fell by 1.07m barrels, while traders were anticipating a drop of 1.95m barrels. The announcement follows the report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday which showed an unexpected build on oil inventories.”

The jump in oil prices came as some analysts warned the rally in Brent was losing steam.

Research by BMI, a Fitch Group company, said prices were looking “increasingly vulnerable to a correction over the coming weeks, as oil market fundamentals begin to weaken”.