By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was down Thursday morning in Asia, but r, after a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude oil stocks in the U.S. gave the black liquid a boost.

inched down 0.01% to $75.45 by 10:37 PM ET (2:37 AM GMT) and inched down 0.04% to $72.58. Brent and WTI futures were both above the $70 mark.

Crude oil and fuel stockpiles dropped sharply during the past week as refiners in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and oil facilities offshore have yet to complete their recovery from Hurricane Ida’s impact, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

The showed a draw of 6.422 million barrels, much bigger than the 3.544-million-barrel draw in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and the previous week’s 1.529-million-barrel draw.

The previous day’s release showed that the draw was 5.437 million barrels.

The data were released following warnings by the International Energy Agency, which stated that losses from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico could offset gains from OPEC.

The global supply declined for the first time since May, but the Market of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) will continue to expand its supply.

Companies in the Gulf of Mexico managed to restore electricity and pipeline services quickly after Hurricane Nicolas, which caused some minor flooding in Texas and Louisiana. This has allowed them to focus on recovering the more severe damage done by category-4 Ida.

About 30% of the Gulf of Mexico’s production remained shut as of Wednesday, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.