Oil prices were seen rising on Wednesday after reports that crude inventories in US increased against expectations, which gave the market a boost amid record increase in Corona cases in the world.
Inventories of crude oil in the U.S. dropped by 6.8 million barrels last week to 531 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday.
Analysts’ expectations were for an increase of 357,000 barrels. U.S. government data is due Wednesday.
“This should temporarily alleviate some concerns about ongoing demand distress,” Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp said in a note.
The raging COVID-19 pandemic is keeping alive concerns about falling fuel demand causing an oversupplied market as record numbers of infections are reported globally, including the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of oil.
Four U.S. states reported one-day records for coronavirus deaths on Tuesday and cases in Texas passed the 400,000 mark.
