Crude inches up ahead of US data

Crude oil prices continued to climb on Wednesday, amid hopes for additional global supply cuts, while traders eyed the release of weekly U.S. stockpiles data due later in the day.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude October contract was at $50.51 a barrel by 07:15 a.m. ET (11:15 GMT), up 54 cents or about 1.08%, just off a four-month peak of $50.81 reached on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Brent oil for November delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London was up 66 cents or about 1.20% at $55.80 a barrel, not far from last Thursday’s five-month high of $55.98.

Market participants were looking ahead to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest report on crude oil inventories due later Wednesday, after last week’s larger than expected storage build.

Prices were supported after the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks rose last week, while gasoline and distillate stocks decreased.

The commodity received an additional boost on Wednesday after Iraq’s oil minister said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other crude producers were considering extending or even deepening a supply cut to curb a global glut.

Market players were looking ahead to a meeting Friday between OPEC and other producers regarding a possible extension by more than three months of oil production cuts that expire in March 2018.

OPEC and other producers, including Russia, have agreed to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels per day until next March in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.

Elsewhere, gasoline futures gained slipped 0.18% to $1.662 a gallon, while natural gas futures fwere steady at $3.123 per million British thermal units.