Oil jumped to a one-week high above $75 on Thursday after an industry report showed US inventories plunged last week, adding to price gains triggered by soaring equity markets amid earnings optimism.

US crude for August rose as much as $1.03 to $75.10 a barrel, the highest intraday price since July 1, and was up 92 cents at $74.99 by 0205 GMT on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude inventories in the US tumbled by 7.3 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute reported late on Wednesday, more than three times the expected drop.

Stockpiles fell after Hurricane Alex forced some producers in the US Gulf to curb production and Mexico to close loading terminals that send most of their output to US refiners. – Reuters