Oil Futures Rebound as API Data Show Drop in US Inventory

Oil futures rebound some in Asian trading Wednesday as the American Petroleum Institute data showed a slight decrease in U.S. crude inventories last week, though investors will likely await confirmation from official data.

--The Energy Information Administration's data, due later Wednesday, is expected to show a modest increase. Still, the near-term sentiment is upbeat as U.S. refiners get back online post hurricanes and amid solid global demand. Fears of a supply disruption related to an independence vote in Kurdistan are also buoying sentiment, while some traders are still hopeful of more additional supply curbs from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

--November Nymex light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was recently up 0.5% at $52.13 a barrel in the Globex trading session. ICE Brent futures rose 0.3% to $58.61.

--"The latest rise in oil prices reflects concerns about Kurdish supply and hopes for another extension of OPEC's output cuts, neither of which may have a lasting influence on prices," says a Capital Economics report. "But the oil market has become better balanced over the past year, suggesting that prices should remain fairly stable."

Write to Biman Mukherji at biman.mukherji@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 27, 2017 00:36 ET (04:36 GMT)