TOKYO: U.S. crude futures rose from multi-week lows in thin early Asian trade on Wednesday after an industry group reported that stocks fell at the Cushing hub in Oklahoma, the delivery point for U.S. oil contracts.
Crude stocks at the Cushing delivery hub fell by 748,000 barrels, data from the industry group, the American Petroleum Institute, showed late on Tuesday.
General inventories rose by 4.1 million barrels in the week to Oct 23 to 477.1 million barrels, the data showed.
Gains were limited as a supply glut persists even after U.S. production cuts and investors are awaiting official inventories data due out later on Wednesday that is expected to show further stockpiling.
U.S. crude for December delivery was up 6 cents at $43.26 a barrel at 0049 GMT after earlier rising to as high as $43.48. The contract fell to as low as $42.58 on Tuesday, the lowest since late August.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down 3 cents at $46.78. It fell to $46.41 on Tuesday the lowest since the middle of September.
U.S. commercial crude oil stockpiles probably rose last week for the fifth consecutive week, an extended Reuters survey showed on Tuesday.
Stocks are likely to have risen 3.4 million barrels to about 480 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 23, the survey of eight analysts showed.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration will release the official data at 1430 GMT on Wednesday. - Reuters
Earlier report:
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
