Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading up 1.7% at $61.22 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. oil standard, were up 1.9% at $52.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported late Tuesday that U.S. stockpiles of crude oil had reduced by 10.2 million barrels last week. The drop was considerably larger than market expectations of a 3.5 million barrel decline, according to analysts at ING Bank. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is set to release official inventory figures for last week on Wednesday.