habit Oil prices The increase edged higher on Wednesday despite gloomy data indications of a sudden increase in US crude stockpiles and expectations from OPEC and the International Energy Agency for a recovery in oil demand next year.
Brent crude futures were up 63 cents, or 0.76%, to $81.31 a barrel by 10:56 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 67 cents to $76.06.
U.S. crude stockpiles rose 7.8 million barrels in the week ending Dec. 9, according to market sources citing data from the American Petroleum Institute, as analysts polled by Reuters expected a decline in inventories of 3.6 million barrels.
Government data is expected at 15:30 GMT.
Inventories data overshadowed the elevated sentiment that drove the market 3% higher in the previous session on hopes for demand recovery in China as Covid-19 restrictions eased, and dollar weakness after that data showed a decline in inflation in the United States.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its 2023 outlook that oil demand will grow by 2.25 million barrels a day next year to 101.8 million barrels a day, with a possible increase from China.
On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency raised its estimate for oil demand in 2023 to an increase of 1.7 million barrels per day, to 101.6 million barrels per day.
The market also received support this week from the leak and outage of TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline, which carries 620,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude oil to the United States.
Officials said it would take at least several weeks to resolve the issue.
