Investing.com - Crude oil prices gained in early Asia on Wednesday after U.S. industry data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. stocks.

The American Petroleum Institute said total crude stockpiles fell 6.5 million barrels last week, gasoline stockpiles remained flat, distillate stockpiles rose 2.5 million barrels and refinery run rates increased 1.9 percentage points to 93% of capacity, according to a posting by Platts Oil on Twitter.

In the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for delivery in January traded at $67.63 a barrel, up 0.51%, after hitting an overnight session low of $66.74 a barrel and off a high of $69.40 a barrel.