SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — U.S. crude oil rose Wednesday, snapping a four-session losing streak after a dip below $47 a barrel earlier in the day.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery CLG25, rose 72 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $48.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The contract had traded as low as $46.83 earlier, extending a 4.2% drop on Tuesday that left crude oil at its lowest since April 2009.

Earlier Wednesday, a weekly U.S. inventories report showed a surprise drop in crude supplies. The report, however, also showed bearish supply increases for gasoline and distillates, which include heating oil.

U.S. crude inventories declined by 3.1 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. Analysts polled by Platts had expected supplies to increase by 380,000 barrels.

Gasoline inventories rose by 8.1 million barrels, while supplies of distillates rose by 11.2 million barrels.

The analysts surveyed by Platts had expected gasoline stocks to increase by 2.25 million barrels and distillate stocks to increase by 2.06 million barrels.

The recent, relentless selloff in oil has led to some traders betting the commodity could fall as low as $20 a barrel.

Brent crude for February delivery UK:LCOG5 on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose 5 cents, or 0.1%, to finish at $51.15 a barrel.

It had earlier briefly dropped below the $50-a-barrel mark for the first time since May 2009. Brent retreated 3.8% Tuesday.

Elsewhere in energy trading, gasoline for February US:RBG5 declined 2 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $1.3376 a gallon on Nymex. February heating oil US:HOG5 dropped 3 cents, or 1.5%, to $1.6999 a gallon on Nymex.

Natural gas also for February US:NGG15 retreated 7 cents, or 2.3%, to $2.8710 per million British thermal units – the lowest settlement for a front-month contract since September 2012.

Natural gas futures have declined for 11 out of the past 16 sessions, mostly on warmer-than-usual temperatures in key U.S. heating markets.

The EIA is expected to release weekly natural gas inventories data on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time. Analysts surveyed by Platts expect a decline in inventories between 117 billion cubic feet and 121 bcf for the week ending Jan.2.