UPDATE 8-Oil posts double-digit gains after U.S. crude storage build slows

* US crude stocks build less than expected -EIA
* U.S. gasoline draw as surprise
* Some easing of lockdowns boosts demand prospects

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments)
By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices surged more than
10% on Wednesday after U.S. crude stockpiles grew less than
expected and gasoline posted a surprise draw, feeding optimism
that fuel consumption will recover as some European countries
and U.S. state ease coronavirus lockdowns.
Crude prices crashed earlier this month, with global fuel
tanking roughly 30% due to efforts to slow the spread of the
virus. To ease the growing glut, major oil producing-nations
agreed in mid-April to cut output by nearly 10 million barrels
per day. Shale producers and oil majors are also reducing
production.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures
settled at $15.06 a barrel, jumping $2.72, or 22%. Brent crude
futures LCOc1 settled at $22.54 a barrel, up $2.08, or 10.2%.
U.S. crude oil inventories swelled by 9 million barrels last
week to 527.6 million barrels, about 7 million barrels below
their record high, the Energy Information Administration said.
The build was slightly less than the 10.6 million-barrel rise
analysts had expected in a Reuters poll. EIA/S
"The crude oil number is a big number at the end of the day,
but it's not as big of a number that we had for the last three
weeks," said Bob Yawger, director of futures at Mizuho in New
York. The slowing build has delayed U.S. crude storage from
filling to the brim, Yawger said, a scenario that would likely
send prices plunging into negative territory again.
"The time to total crisis mode has been kicked down the road
a little bit," he said.
The data included a notable drawdown in U.S. gasoline
stockpiles of 3.7 million barrels from record highs last week as
a modest pickup in fuel demand offset a rebound in refinery
output.
Gasoline demand over the past four weeks remained down 44%
from a year earlier, but the drawdown suggested consumption
declines may be leveling off. Overall fuel demand has dropped by
28% in the last four weeks.
While U.S. storage is rapidly filling, crude production cuts
by U.S. shale producers - estimated by consultants Rystad Energy
at 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) for May and June - should slow
flows into tanks.
Regulators in Texas, the biggest U.S. oil producing state,
will vote on May 5 whether to enact output cuts. Officials in
North Dakota and Oklahoma are also examining possible cuts.
That would add to production curbs of almost 10 million bpd
agreed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
and other large producers including Russia.
Prices also got a boost from hopes for a demand recovery as
European countries including France and Spain, along with
several U.S. states planned to lift some lockdown restrictions
soon.
"As long as we see openings in the economy, we will not see
plunges like we saw a week ago," said Gene McGillian, vice
president of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford,
Connecticut. "But markets heading back up to pre-crisis days are
going to be tough to come by."