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Brent crude futures were up 35 cents, or 0.8%, at $43.25 a
barrel as of 1015 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude <CLc1> futures rose 38 cents, or 0.1%, to $40.67 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 8.3 million barrels in the week
to July 10, beating analysts' expectations for a decline of 2.1
million barrels, according to data from industry group the
American Petroleum Institute.
Official numbers from the U.S. Department of Energy are due
later on Wednesday.
A key ministerial committee of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies will also meet on
Wednesday after 1200 GMT.
OPEC and allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+,
are set to decide whether to extend output cuts of 9.7 million
barrels per day (bpd) that end in July or ease them to 7.7
million bpd.
"Most indications suggest that it will be the latter, with more
focus on compliance and compensatory cuts," ING Economics said
in a note.
The real production increase from August could be less than 2
million bpd given Iraq, Nigeria and Angola promised to
over-comply to make up for high output in May-June.
On Tuesday, OPEC said it saw demand recovering by 7 million bpd
in 2021 after falling by 9 million this year.
Oil prices <LCOc1> have recovered to almost $43 a barrel from a
21-year low below $16 in April. The recovery in prices has
allowed some U.S. producers to resume suspended production, a
move that is set to weigh on OPEC's decision on Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Jane Chung; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell
and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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