Crude futures settle higher

Oil prices climbed on Wednesday.

The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery went up 2.26 U.S. dollars, or 2.41 percent, to settle at 96.02 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery gained 1.81 dollars, or 1.89 percent, to settle at 97.81 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

The eastern corridor of the China-Europe Freight Train service has seen more than 3,000 trips on it so far this year, marking a major milestone in cross-border rail transport.

A return train carrying cooking oil, automobile tires and aluminum ingots on Saturday entered China through the Manzhouli port, the country's largest inland port, bound for Wuhan in central China.

The corridor, comprising the Manzhouli, Suifenhe and Tongjiang North railway ports, now operates 27 stable routes linking more than 60 Chinese cities with 14 European countries including Poland, Germany and The Netherlands.

From January to April, the eastern corridor accounted for 32.1 percent of China's total China-Europe Freight Train traffic, with return trips making up 41.1 percent of the national total.

The China-Europe Freight Train service began operations in 2011 and has grown rapidly since the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. As of Feb 26, the eastern corridor had already witnessed more than 1,000 train trips on its railway lines for the current year, breaking the mark 26 days earlier than the figure for the previous year.