Oil prices surge on inventory drawdown and tightening market signals.

Oil prices rose for a third consecutive day, with Brent Crude up above $78 per barrel and WTI Crude trading at $74.23, following estimates of a large U.S. inventory draw and a warning from Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister for short sellers. The American Petroleum Institute estimated that crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell by 6.70 million barrels last week, sending U.S. gasoline inventories to the lowest level just before Memorial Day since 2014. The comments from the Saudi Energy Minister raised speculation that OPEC+ could surprise markets again when the ministers of the alliance meet in early June.