Oil prices jumped more than $1 per barrel Wednesday after a surprise drop in US commercial crude stocks, particularly at domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate’s Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point, where tanks are now their lowest since 2008. International price-pin Brent saw additional support from the refusal of Libyan rebels occupying oil ports in the east of the country to deal with the country’s new Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq and reopen four export ports. But the midweek gains were largely undone Thursday with Brent falling after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to discuss a way out of the Ukrainian crisis and called on separatists in east Ukraine to postpone a May 11 referendum on the status of the mostly Russian-speaking region.
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