Oil prices inched up during Asian trade on Wednesday despite a surprise jump in U.S. stockpiles, driven by geopolitical risks from the Middle East conflict and forecasts of an eventual inventory drawdown during the third quarter peak demand season.
Brent crude oil futures rose 40 cents, or 0.5%, to $85.41 a barrel by 0406 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 43 cents, or 0.5%, to $81.26 per barrel.
“It seems the market is shrugging off demand concerns for now, anticipating inventory drawdowns in peak third quarter demand season. Official Energy Information Administration (EIA) inventory numbers today will provide the market further pointers on the trend,” said Suvro Sarkar, energy sector team lead at DBS Bank.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported U.S. crude oil stocks rose by 914,000 barrels in the week ended June 21, according to market sources briefed on the data. Analysts polled by Reuters expect crude stocks to have declined by nearly 3 million barrels last week.
