Oil prices rose on Wednesday after a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories, with the market waiting for OPEC and its allies to decide on the easing of output curbs later in the day as the global economy slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Source : Reuters