Singapore — Oil prices edged up on Wednesday on a fall in US crude inventories, although markets were still being weighed down by general oversupply. Brent crude futures were at $51.02 a barrel at 2.18am GMT, up 22c or 0.4% from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $47.70 a barrel, up 15c, or 0.3%. US crude inventories fell by 9.2-million barrels in the week to August 11 to 469.2-million, industry group the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday. That compared with analyst expectations for a decrease of 3.1-million barrels. "The market took this as a mildly bullish report," said William O’Loughlin, investment analyst at Rivkin Securities. However, petrol stocks climbed by 301,000 barrels, compared with analyst expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.1-million barrel decline. Official Energy Information Administration (EIA) data will be published late on Wednesday. More broadly, analysts said ample supply was preventing prices from moving much...
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