Oil futures rebounded on Wednesday by notching slight gains while traders dealt with a smaller-than-expected decline in domestic crude inventories, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, September West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 43 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $49.59 a barrel.
October Brent crude, the global benchmark, gained 58 cents, or 1.1%, to end trading at $52.36 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The Energy Information Administration reported a 1.5 million barrel drop in domestic crude inventories last week. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimated an average of 3.1 million barrel decline.
Concerns resurfaced Tuesday that output among OPEC members jumped in July, partly due to a production surge in Libya. That news goes against the view that the cartel is adhering to output production limits. The next OPEC monthly oil report is due on Thursday.
Meanwhile, OPEC has scheduled a two-day meeting next week to review members’ commitments to the production caps they have agreed upon to cut the global glut.
September natural gas fell 0.3% to $2.811 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.