Oil prices rose despite an increase in U.S. crude inventories. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its crude oil inventories data on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories rose by 10.37 million barrels to 518.0 million in the week to February 26.

Analysts had expected U.S. crude oil inventories to rise by 3.5 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories decreased by 1.5 million barrels, according to the EIA.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, climbed by 1.2 million barrels.

U.S. crude oil imports increased by 502,000 barrels per day.

Refineries in the U.S. were running at 88.3% of capacity, up from 87.3% the previous week.

WTI crude oil for April delivery increased to $34.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude oil for April rose to $36.99 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.