U. S. crude oil futures shot up more than 5 percent to above $70 a barrel in post-settlement trading on Tuesday, after industry data showed a surprisingly large drawdown in crude inventories last week, contrary to forecasts that supplies rose. U. S. natural gas futures settled lower on Tuesday, despite stronger crude futures and continued hot, humid weather in key consuming regions in the Northeast.

The API reported U. S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week by 6.1 million barrels as refiners boosted production and imports dropped. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast an average crude oil inventory build of 1.3 million barrels.

Hurricane Bill headed west-northwest over the open Atlantic on Tuesday on a path toward Bermuda that would likely keep it clear of the U. S. East Coast, the U. S. National Hurricane Center said.

Temperatures in key gas consuming cities New York and Chicago were seen slipping back to close to normal or below normal levels by early next week, with highs falling from the mid-90s Fahrenheit to the low-70s F, according to forecaster DTN Meteorlogix.

Angola is set to export around 1.90 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in October, up from 1.85 million bpd in September and well above its implied OPEC target, trade sources said on Tuesday.

Today the focus would be on EIA inventory report. Crude oil is expected to take direction from the outcome of this report. It may rise by $1-2 on concerns of a hurricane getting stronger and any surprise draw down in inventory reported by EIA.