Oil rises as U.S. crude inventory draw points to strong demand

Brent crude futures climbed 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $85.99 a barrel at 0040 GMT, after rising 0.9% the previous day.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December gained 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $83.79 a barrel. November WTI crude, which expired on Wednesday, settled up 91 cents, or 1.1%, after touching the highest since October 2014 earlier in the session.

U.S. crude stocks fell by 431,000 barrels in the week to Oct. 15 to 426.5 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.9 million-barrel rise, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. EIA/S

U.S. stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub hit their lowest level since October 2018, pointing to tightness in the market that may take some time to alleviate.