Wednesday's Petroleum Inventory Report by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration showed that crude oil inventories rose by 2.1 million barrels in the week ending Friday to 334.5 million barrels. Traders, on average, had expected crude oil inventories to fall by 1.2 million barrels, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analyst estimates.

Gasoline inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels. Analysts had expected a 200,000-barrel increase in gasoline inventories. Distillate stockpiles, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, remained flat as heating oil inventories fell while diesel stockpiles rose.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose $1.26 cents to settle at $65.84 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.31 a barrel on Tuesday.

Brent crude for June delivery gained $1.41 to settle at $68.57 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Gasoline futures gained 7.37 cents to settle at $2.2826 a gallon.