Oil prices up with estimated decline in US crude stocks

Oil prices were up on Wednesday as an estimated US crude oil inventory decline is alleviating market concerns over a supply glut rise.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $43.77 per barrel at 0630 GMT on Wednesday for a 1.27% gain after closing Tuesday at $43.22 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $41.12 a barrel at the same time for a 0.19% increase after ending the previous session at $41.04 per barrel.

American Petroleum Institute (API) announced late Tuesday its forecast of a decline in US crude oil inventories by 6.8 million barrels for the week ending July 24.

While this signaled that US oil consumption could have increased, it also calmed some investor fears amid the increasing glut of oil supply on the global market.

On the demand side, however, the rising number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases throughout the world is negatively impacting the global economic outlook and overall oil demand, thus keeping downward pressure on prices.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the world has surpassed 16.7 million, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

The US continues to lead with the most cases at 4.3 million, followed by Brazil with almost 2.5 million cases, while India has the third highest with more than 1.5 million cases.