Oil slightly higher after API data

Investing.com - Oil futures traded modestly higher in the early part of Wednesday’s Asian session following the release of weekly inventories data from the American Petroleum Institute.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for September delivery rose 0.18% to USD105.49 per barrel in Asian trading Wednesday after settling down 1.18% at USD105.30 per barrel during Tuesday’s Asian session.

Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. oil inventories fell 3.7 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 2. Analysts expected a decline of 2 million barrels.

Distillate stocks increased by 1.5 million barrels, while gasoline stocks fell by 971,000 barrels. Analysts had expected a drop by 1 million barrels for distillates and gasoline. The more widely followed inventories data from the U.S. Energy Department is due out later Wednesday.

Oil and other riskier assets languished Tuesday after Federal Reserve member Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed, said investors have become too dependent on the Fed backstopping riskier assets.

In comments made in Oregon, Fisher said, "Financial markets may have become too accustomed to what some have depicted as a Fed ‘put,’” or the idea that the central bank will loosen credit after a market decline."

Elsewhere, Libyan Oil Minister Abdelbari al-Arusi said output in the North African country has rebounded to 700,000 barrels per day following civil unrest that hampered production there. Libya is an OPEC member and home to Africa’s largest oil reserves.

Fellow OPEC member Iraq is expected to pare oil shipments by 400,000 to 500,000 barrels per day next month due to pipeline damage.

Meanwhile, Brent futures for September delivery inched down 0.04% to USD108.11 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.