A drop in U.S. crude oil inventories led to another banner day for crude oil markets with crude oil indices gaining at least a full dollar in Wednesday trading.

Crude oil supplies in the United States reported a 1.5 million barrel decline last week, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute.

Oil prices fell dramatically last year as supplies far outweighed demand in a weak global economy. Strong economic data from Europe, good labor numbers from the United States and expectations of increased demand for energy in Asia during the first quarter of 2015 brought a level of balance to the crude oil market.

The market for Brent, the global benchmark, had a repeat of Tuesday's gains by showing another 2 percent increase in price to flirt with the $70 per barrel mark early in the Wednesday session. Since May 1, Brent crude oil prices are up 4.5 percent, or about $3 per barrel, for their highest level of the year.

Brent in mid-January was around $45 per barrel.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rallied 2.6 percent to $62.02 per barrel. WTI prices are up 4.7 percent for the month and are at their highest level since Dec. 10. The low mark for WTI in 2015 was $44.45 in late January.

Lower oil prices meant less capital available to companies working on exploration and production, but were viewed as a de facto source of economic stimulus for most consumers and consuming nations.

A report to the U.S. Treasury from the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said the recovery in crude oil prices may undermine economic growth.

"The impact from declining oil prices led to a sizeable increase in disposable income, but the stabilization and even slight increase of oil prices during the quarter may have curtailed households' propensity to spend," the letter, published Wednesday, said.

U.S. economic growth in the first quarter of 2015 declined to 0.2 percent, compared with 2.2 percent for real gross domestic product during fourth quarter 2014.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects Brent to average $58 per barrel this year and $75 for 2016. WTI prices for 2015 will average about $3 less per barrel than Brent.