Brent crude futures extended gains to $2 and U.S. crude to more than $1 on Wednesday, as a large drop in distillate stockpiles in the United States reported by the government sparked a heating oil futures rally.

ICE Brent July crude rose $2.01 to $114.54 a barrel by 11:40 a.m. EDT (1540 GMT), trading from $111.14 to $114.62.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the July crude contract rose $1.22 to $100.81 a barrel, trading from $98.20 to $100.93.

Front-month June heating oil futures rose 6.41 cents to $2.9738 per gallon.

(Reporting by Robert Gibbons; Editing by David Gregorio)

U.S. Energy