By Katya Golubkova
TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices rose in early trading on Wednesday as massive wildfires threatened Canada’s oil sands and the market expected U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories to show a drawdown. end of the day.
Brent crude futures rose 34 cents, or 0.4%, to $82.71 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 38 cents, or 0.5%, to $78.39 a barrel at 00:16 GMT.
A massive wildfire was approaching Fort McMurray, the center of Canada’s oil sands industry, with production of about 3.3 million barrels per day, or two-thirds of the country’s total production, and thousands of people in suburbs were forced to evacuate.
US producer prices rose more than expected in April, and even as the prospect of rate cuts has become less certain, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said it remains unlikely that the Fed will have to increase rates even further.
US consumer prices, as well as data on US crude oil and gasoline inventories, will be released on Wednesday. Market sources cited figures from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, saying U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories fell last week.
API figures showed that oil inventories fell by 3.104 million barrels in the week ending May 10, the sources said on condition of anonymity. Gasoline stocks fell by 1.269 million barrels and distillates increased by 673 thousand barrels.
“The lack of progress in reducing inflation continues to dampen expectations for a near-term rate cut,” ANZ Research said in a note. “Expectations of another draw in US oil inventories should support oil prices.”
In the Middle East, Israeli tanks advanced deeper into Gaza’s Rafah, reaching some residential areas where more than a million people had sought shelter, and its forces attacked the north of the enclave in some of the most violent attacks in months.
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
