Investing.com - Oil prices trimmed gains on Wednesday, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a larger than forecast U.S. oil inventory build last week.
U.S. crude oil was up 39 cents or 0.89% at $48.63 a barrel at 10.35 ET from around $48.75 ahead of the report.
Global benchmark Brent futures were at $54.38 a barrel, up 11 cents or 0.2% from $54.59 earlier.
Crude oil inventories rose by 5.88 million barrels last week, the EIA said.
That was compared to forecasts for a stockpile build of 3.2 million barrels after a build of 4.58 million barrels in the previous week.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories fell by 8.42 million barrels, compared to expectations for a decline of 2.05 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 3.21 million barrels, compared to forecasts for a decrease of 1.53 million.
The report came after industry group the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories increased by 6.2 million barrels last week.
It was the second straight build after Hurricane Harvey shut production in some Gulf of Mexico fields and refineries in Texas as some domestic producers also trimmed output to avoid a larger glut at storage.
Oil prices had been higher earlier after the latest OPEC report that showed oil production from the cartel fell last month for the first time since March.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said Tuesday that output declined by 79,000 barrels a day to 32.76 million in August, driven mainly by a drop in Libya, Gabon, Venezuela and Iraq.
OPEC also slightly raised its outlook for global oil demand in 2017 and 2018. The cartel now believes the world will consume 96.77 million barrels a day this year and 98.12 million barrels a day next year.
Prices received additional support amid reports that OPEC and its allies are discussing extending production cuts that are due to expire in March 2018 for roughly another three months.