U.S. crude oil prices continued to rise today after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 2.5 million barrel drawdown in crude inventories for the week ended March 18.

A 4.3 million barrel increase in inventories compared to the previous week temporarily halted the recent rally in oil prices.

In gasoline, the EIA reported that U.S. inventories fell by 2.9 million barrels in the week ending March 18, with production averaging 9.8 million barrels a day.

That compares with a 3.6 million barrel decline in inventories in the previous week, when production averaged 9.4 million barrels a day.

In middle distillates, the EIA reported last week's U.S. inventories fell by 2.1 million barrels, after an increase of 300,000 barrels in the prior week.

Middle distillate production averaged 5 million barrels per day last week, compared with 4.9 million barrels the week before.

On middle distillates, the world's top commodity traders have warned that diesel shortages are hanging over the global economy and could become systemic, according to a Financial Times report this week.

"Europe imports about half of its diesel from large countries and half from the Middle East, and there is already a systemic shortage of diesel," the Financial Times reported, citing Russell Hardy, CEO of Vitol.

"Diesel is not just a European problem, it's a global problem," Gunvor co-founder Thorbjorn Thornkvist said.

Meanwhile, oil prices slowed after spiking earlier in the week. With some EU member states having misgivings about such a step and apparently not yet agreed, price gains have since stalled.

Brent crude was trading at $120.90 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was trading at $114.20, both up slightly from Tuesday's close.