The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories had come down by 2.6 million barrels last week, ahead of the one million barrel decline predicted by analysts and traders. The data “provided investors another reason to buy oil,” said Carlo Alberto de Casa, the chief analyst at ActivTrades. The “scenario remains bullish for the barrel.” U.S. prices in particular succeeded in beating recent highs, climbing above the $70-a-barrel mark in the morning before pulling back. “WTI is testing a key psychological level,” said Schneider Electric during the session. At the same time, oil market observers widely expect prices to be buoyed in the coming months by planned U.S. economic sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, set to take effect at the start of November. Contractors work on an oil rig operated by Colgate Energy in Reeves County, Texas. Photo: Callaghan O’Hare/Bloomberg News “The November deadline to comply […]