Brent oil edges up in subdued trade before U.S. stocks data

[July 20, 2016]  By Karolin Schaps

LONDON (Reuters) - Brent oil prices edged higher on Wednesday in muted trading as investors awaited a clearer signal from weekly U.S. crude inventory data on whether a glut was easing in the world's largest oil-consuming nation.

Global benchmark Brent crude prices  were up 5 cents at $46.71 a barrel at 1225 GMT. On Tuesday, the contract settled down 30 cents, or 0.6 percent.

In thin trading, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 13 cents at $44.52 a barrel. It fell 59 cents, or 1.3 percent, in the previous session. The front-month August contract will expire at the end of Wednesday's session, meaning trading interest was low.

"It's a continuation of directionless trade. We need more clarity on where the oil market is heading," said Carsten Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank.

The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) will issue stockpile data at 1430 GMT.

If the EIA confirms a drawdown, it will be the ninth straight week in which U.S. crude stockpiles have fallen.

"Unless the weekly report can show some larger stock changes we expect a low-volume environment to continue tomorrow and Friday," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix.

The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported on Tuesday that crude stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels last week. That was just above a 2.1-million-barrel draw forecast in a Reuters poll.

For distillate inventories including diesel, API reported a surprise draw of 484,000 barrels. But it also showed an unexpected gasoline build of 805,000 barrels.

Some bearish news capped gains on Wednesday as Russia's energy minister dashed any hope that the world's biggest oil producers could coordinate on output to stem global oversupply.

He told Reuters in an interview that Russia was not discussing coordination with producer group OPEC and that Russian oil output would rise to 542-544 million tonnes this year, a 30-year high.

An Israeli gas platform is seen in the Mediterranean sea August 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

Libya's eastern oil export terminal of Hariga resumed operations on Wednesday after a protest by guards over pay ended.

A Maltese-flagged tanker was docked at the facility and loading 76,000 tons of crude, the port's manager said.

However, the Sarir oilfield in the region, which was producing 100,000 barrels per day, remained shut after the port reopened, a spokesman for eastern Libya's state oil firm AGOCO said.

He said production would be suspended until AGOCO received funds for equipment and to pay off debt.

(Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by Dale Hudson and David Evans)

[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.