Oil prices rallied from intra-day lows as the release of the 15 British naval personnel by Iran Wednesday was overshadowed by news of a larger-than-expected fall in US petrol stockpiles

The price of oil initially fell sharply following the announcement by President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad of Iran that the 15 naval personnel would be released. But prices reversed as the release of the weekly report on US inventories report quickly turned traders’ minds away from geopolitics.