Crude prices widen gains ahead of EIA inventory report

Crude prices rose in European trade on Wednesday for the fifth session in a row, rebounding away from ten-month lows, while gains were curbed however by initial data showing a buildup in US crude inventories last week, as traders now await the official EIA report later today. 

As of 11:37 GMT, US crude rose to $44.10 a barrel from the opening of $43.67, with an intraday high at $44.22, and a low at $43.66. 

US crude futures marked a 0.5% profit yesterday, the fourth daily gain in a row, moving away from a ten-month low at $42.04. 

In initial data, the American Petroleum Institute reported a buildup of 0.81 million barrels in US crude stocks last week, missing expectations of a 2.6M drawdown. 

Traders await the official EIA report, expected to showed a drawdown of 2.1 million barrels, which would be the third such weekly decline in a row. 

As for oil production in the US, it hovered around 9.34 million bpd, near the highest since August 2015.