09:17 AM EDT, 06/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oil edged higher early on Wednesday in holiday trading even as a report showed an unexpected rise in U.S. oil inventories.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for July delivery was last seen up US$0.03 to US$81.60 per barrel, the highest since April 30, while August Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up US$0.18 to US$85.51.

The rise comes even as the American Petroleum Institute's weekly survey showed U.S. oil inventories rose by 2.26-million barrels last week, while the consensus estimate from analysts polled by Reuters expected stocks to fall by 2.2-million barrels. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released on Thursday morning, a day later than usual due to the Juneteenth holiday.

Despite the rise in U.S. stocks, traders are still expecting high demand during the driving season to cut into inventories after OPEC+ earlier this month extended 2.2-million barrels per day of supply cut through September.