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Oil prices rose on Wednesday as a drop in U.S. oil and fuel inventories outweighed wider economic concerns.
Crude stockpiles in the world's top consumer fell by 900,000 barrels last week, more than forecasts for a 300,000-barrel drop, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.
Gasoline and distillate stocks dropped by 1.7 million and 300,000 barrels. respectively.
"Overall, the figures were fairly bullish. Gasoline was a much larger draw than expected," said Mike Zarembski, senior commodities analyst at optionsXpress in Chicago.
The declines came after Tropical Storm Ida forced oil and natural gas companies to shutter production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico last week.
U.S. light, sweet crude [ US@CL.1 73.75 
+0.0 (+0.00%) ] settled 44 cents higher at $79.58 a barrel, while London Brent crude [ GB@IB.1 72.13 +0.0 (+0.00%) ] gained 50 cents to settle at $79.47 a barrel.
Despite the inventory drawdowns, analysts said the EIA report showed demand in the world's top consumer remained weak, down 4.1 percent against last year for all refined products.
The financial crisis has battered fuel demand in developed economies, such as the United States, knocking crude from record highs near $150 a barrel in July 2008 to below $33 a barrel in December last year.
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