Investing.com - Oil prices were higher in North American trade on Wednesday, extending gains into a third-straight session, as investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products later in the global day.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude August contract was at $45.88 a barrel by 3:35AM ET (0735GMT), up 82 cents, or around 1.8%.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for September delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London climbed 75 cents to $48.29 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official weekly oil supplies report at 10:30AM ET (1430GMT).
Analysts expect crude oil inventories dropped by around 2.8 million barrels at the end of last week, while gasoline supplies are seen increasing by 1.1 million barrels and distillates are forecast to gain about 1.3 million barrels.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories fell by 8.1 million barrels in the week ended July 7.
The API report also showed a decline of 800,000 barrels in gasoline stocks, while distillate stocks rose by 2.1 million barrels.
There are often sharp divergences between the API estimates and the official figures from EIA.
Oil ended higher on Tuesday, rising about 1.4%, as a lower 2018 forecast on U.S. crude production and speculation of possible output curbs in Libya and Nigeria fueled the strongest session gain for prices in over a week.
The two countries had been exempted from the pact among major oil producers, led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, to limit global production and ease a glut of oil that has plagued the industry.
OPEC will release its monthly oil report later in the day, which includes figures on the state of global crude stockpiles. The data will give traders a better picture of whether a global rebalancing is taking place in the oil market.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for August was little changed at $1.533 a gallon, while August heating oil added 1.8 cents to $1.494 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for August delivery slipped 2.3 cents to $3.024 per million British thermal units.