Oil rises

Reuters

Singapore

Oil prices rose in early trading on Wednesday after a report that U.S. fuel inventories may have fallen for a fifth straight week, but contracts remained near the $50 marker where many traders currently see fair value for crude.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $49.14 per barrel at 0430 GMT, up 45 cents, or 0.9 percent, from their last settlement.

Traders said the higher prices were largely a result of a report by the American Petroleum Institute (API) late on Tuesday showing that U.S. crude inventories likely fell for a fifth straight week, declining by 7.6 million barrels.  The U.S. government´s Energy Information Administration (EIA) will report official stockpile numbers on Wednesday, although analysts polled by Reuters expect the EIA to report a stock build of 2.6 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 30.

In international oil markets, benchmark Brent crude futures were trading at $51.29 per barrel, up 42 cents, or 0.8 percent.