Oil up, rebounds on renewed gasoline demand, weak dollar | Reuters

Oil up, rebounds on renewed gasoline demand, weak dollar | Reuters

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, rebounding from losses early in the session on lift from encouraging figures on U.S. gasoline demand and as a lower-than-expected U.S. inflation figure drove investors into riskier assets.

Brent crude futures rose68 cents, or 0.7%, to $96.99 a barrel as of 12:46 p.m. EST (1746 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained83 cents, or 0.9%, to $91.33 .

U.S. crude oil stocks rose by 5.5 million barrels in the most recent week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, more than the expected increase of 73,000 barrels. However, U.S. gasoline stocks fell sharply as implied demand rose after weeks of lackluster activity during what is supposed to be peak summer driving season.

"Everyone has been very much focused on potential demand destruction, so seeing implied demand showing an outsized rebound for last week has probably given some comfort to those really concerned about that," said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst, Americas, for Kpler.

Gasoline product supplied rose in the most recent week to 9.1 million bpd, though that figure still shows demand down 6% over the past four weeks compared with the year-ago period.