Oil prices rose on Wednesday to extend overnight gains even as industry data showed U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose in the just-ended week, against expectations for a small drop.
Benchmark Brent crude futures climbed 0.9 percent to $93.28 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were up 1.3 percent at $91.57.
The American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday that U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose by 1.586M barrels during the week ended Sept. 22, against expectations for a small drop.
However, there was a drop of 0.07M barrels in gasoline and a decline of 1.698M in distillates, indicating steady fuel demand in the country despite the end of the travel-heavy summer season.
The official inventory data from the Energy Information Administration will be out later in the day.
Elsewhere, the Bloomberg reported, citing tanker-tracking data that Russian crude oil exports by sea dipped by around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 3 million bpd last week and by 100,000 bpd to 3.2 million bpd in the four weeks to September 24 due to port maintenance works.
