Oil prices steadied on Wednesday as a drop in US crude stockpiles reinforced expectations of improving demand ahead of the peak summer driving season, offsetting worries that a possible return of Iranian supply would cause a glut.
Brent rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $68.81 a barrel by 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 GMT), and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 11 cents, or 0.2%, at $66.18 a barrel.
Both benchmarks pared earlier losses after government data showed US crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub fell last week to the lowest since March 2020. Refiners also ramped up utilization rates to pre-pandemic levels.
