Investing.com – Oil was lower early Wednesday after a surprise rise in U.S. crude inventories.
U.S. crude futures were down 50 cents, or 1.07%, at $46.30 at 06:45 ET, while Brent crude shed 1.22% to $47.88.
American Petroleum Institute data Tuesday showed a build-up of 2.2 million barrels in U.S. crude stocks in the latest week.
Expectations were for a fall of around 3 million barrels in inventories.
Official Energy Information Administration stockpile figures are due out later Wednesday.
Wednesday’s losses reflected investors locking in gains of over 4% on Tuesday on upbeat industry forecasts.
OPEC said Tuesday it sees global oil demand rising by 1.15 million barrels per day in 2017.
The dollar index was lower. A weaker dollar supports demand for oil.