2021.02.2408:39:00UTC+00Oil Edges Higher In Cautious Trade

Oil prices rose on Wednesday amid hopes that vaccine rollouts will drive a recovery in demand. The upside was capped after industry data showed a build in crude oil inventories.

Benchmark Brent crude rose 0.3 percent to $64.68 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures were marginally higher at $61.71.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build in crude oil inventories of 1.026 million barrels in the week to February 19, against estimates for a draw of 5.2 million barrels.

Refinery crude runs fell by 2.2 million bpd as a deep freeze in the southern states curbed demand.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration report is awaited later today amid fears that supply will likely outpace demand in the next few weeks.

Shale oil producers in the southern United States could take at least a couple of weeks to restart the more than 2 million barrels per day of crude output that was shut down because of a deep freeze.