NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices jumped more than $2 Wednesday with a drawdown in crude stocks and a brief outage of the electronic trading platform causing crude prices to pass $75 a barrel.
U.S. light crude for September delivery rose $2.34 to settle at $75.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said crude stocks fell 1.1 million barrels, slightly less than the 1.2 million decline forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
But supplies of refined products rose more than expected, which caused crude prices to fall immediately after the EIA report.
Distillates, used to make heating oil and diesel fuel, rose 1.5 million barrels, while gasoline supplies gained by 800,000 barrels. Analysts were looking for an 800,000-barrel gain in distillates supplies and a 400,000 barrel increase in gasoline stockpiles.
But the crude drawdown, as well as expectations that refined products would rise, led prices ultimately higher.
One trader noted how expectations were for gasoline supplies to rise as refiners came back online, and demand to slow as the summer driving season ends, which has contributed to a 15 percent fall in the price of front-month gasoline futures over the last two weeks.
"These numbers really don't do anything to change that outlook," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Alaron Trading, Chicago. "It was a case of sell on the rumor, buy on the news."
Flynn also said a brief outage of the Globex electronic trading platform due to a technical problem may have also been pushing prices up as far fewer contracts were traded.
One trader said 75 to 80 percent of trading is usually done electronically, and the closure leaves just the floor employees in New York buying and selling contracts. The platform has since reopened.
Flynn also said there were rumors of another problem at a refinery, but those could not be confirmed.
In its inventory report, the EIA said refineries expanded production to run at 91.7 percent capacity, in line with estimates.
Gasoline was also imported at the highest weekly average ever, although overall gasoline inventories still remain below average, the report said.
On the supply front, expectations are that crude supplies from OPEC are rising, according to a Reuters report.
Oil consultant Petrologistics, which tracks tanker shipments, said overall OPEC output was set to rise 300,000 barrels per day to 30.7 million bpd this month as producers took advantage of near-record crude oil prices.
OPEC's second-biggest producer Iran said Tuesday the exporter group, which agreed to cut output last year as prices were sliding, would ramp up output if necessary.
This follows similar remarks from OPEC President Mohammed al-Hamli, who said Sunday the organization was worried high oil prices might hurt the world economy.
Production from non-OPEC Russia will remain steady until 2020, its Economy Ministry said Tuesday, broadly confirming the outlook by the International Energy Agency.
The ministry said in its long-term economic outlook that it expected production from Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, to level off at 10.6 million barrels per day between 2015 and 2020.
Crude prices are now nearing their record trading high of $78.40 set last July, pushed up by stronger demand from refineries, the collapse of a peace deal in Nigeria and reports of a tightening supply and demand picture.
- Reuters contributed to this report 
