09:00 AM EDT, 07/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices rose early on Wednesday after a report showed a large drop in U.S. oil inventories last week, though demand concerns remain as gasoline inventories rose while Hurricane Beryl remained well south of U.S. oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery was last seen up US$0.15 to US$82.97 per barrel, while September Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up US$0.17 to US$86.41.

In its weekly survey released Tuesday afternoon, the American Petroleum Institute reported U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 9.16-million barrels last week, well more than the consensus estimate of analysts polled by Reuters which expected a drop of 0.7-million barrels.

Gasoline inventories rose by 2.47-million barrels, while the consensus estimate expected a 1.3-million barrel drop.

The Energy Information Administration will release official inventory data later on Wednesday morning.

"Those that have been predicting 'tightening' and draws to US Crude holdings will feel somewhat vindicated this morning as the API data shows Crude stocks fell by 9.2 million barrels last week. This decline in Crude levels might just have saved more of a sell off after the hurricane news and definitely dulls the data showing a build in Gasoline of 2.5 million barrels against a predicted 1.3 million draw and any manner of predictions of much increased road travel in the US over the Fourth of July celebrations," PVM Oil Associates noted.

Hurricane Beryl continues to track through the southern Gulf of Mexico, though downgraded to a Category 3 storm with winds of 145 miles per hours after peaking at Category 5 on Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is currently approaching Jamaica and is expected to make landfall on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula late Thursday at hurricane strength.