oil prices moved lower on wednesday giving up modest early gains despite us government data showing domestic supplies of crude oil fell by more than 5 million barrels last week down a fourth week in row though gasoline and distillate inventories each saw a sharp climb worries that more interest rate rises by the federal reserve may cause a recession rippled across markets in recent days pulling oil prices down for three sessions in a row despite concerns about the impact of the group of seven price cap on russian oil imposed on monday the energy information administration on wednesday reported a fourthconsecutive weekly decline in us crude inventories but stocks of both gasoline and distillates climbed if crude stocks can continue to fall it would likely challenge the generally bearish trend that has defined oil prices for the past month said robbie fraser manager global research  analytics at schneider electric domestic commercial crude stocks fell by 52 million barrels for the week ended dec 2 the eia said on average analysts forecasted a decline of 26 million barrels according to a poll conducted by sp global commodity insights the american petroleum institute a trade group reported late tuesday that crude supplies fell by 64 million barrels last week dow jones reported citing a source ongoing strength in refining activity and exports have encouraged another draw for crude supplies said matt smith lead oil analyst americas at kpler in reaction to the supply data as us strategic petroleum reserve transfers slow us commercial inventories are now lower yeartodate set for further downside in the weeks ahead he said the eia however showed weekly inventory gains of 53 million barrels for gasoline and 62 million barrels for distillates the sp global commodity insights survey had called for increases of 29 million barrels for gasoline and 19 million barrels for distillates crude stocks at the cushing okla nymex delivery hub declined by 400000 barrels for the week the eia said while stocks in the spr fell by 21 million barrels china has announced measures to roll back some of its covid19 restrictions those include limiting harsh lockdowns and ordering schools without known infections to resume regular classes the associated press reported wednesday traders have been looking for more positive news when it comes to chinas zerotolerance covid policies said naeem aslam chief market analyst at avatrade in a market update and now we have heard from the officials about a further easing of those measures providing support to investor sentiment in asia  with the spillover of this sentiment likely impacting europe and the us given that china is the second biggest economy in the world he said but stephen innes managing partner at spi asset management warned that chinas covid tsunami is coming as the worlds most populous nation is being forced onto a zerocovid offramp after a way too early china reopening supported some markets it will be a tale of two haves in china where winter oil prices and covid mobility woes give way to hope springs eternal in q2