Oil prices edge up on reports of rising inventories, refinery runs

However, analysts said the market would remain under pressure for the rest of the year and into 2016

Crude oil prices edged up in early trading on Wednesday following reports of falling stockpiles and rising refinery activity, but analysts said the market would remain under pressure for the rest of the year and into 2016.

Industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) said late on Tuesday that US crude stockpiles fell last week by 482,000 barrels due to lower imports and higher refinery runs.

This helped push front-month US crude futures up 31 cents from their last settlement to $40.98 a barrel at 0120 GMT. The gain followed an over $1 fall during the previous session.

"Any surprising pick-up in refinery utilisation may drive the oil price higher in the short term," ANZ bank said on Wednesday.

Official inventory data is due later on Wednesday from the US government's Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Internationally traded Brent crude futures were up 33 cents at $43.90 per barrel.

Despite the slight gains on Wednesday, most analysts expect prices to remain at low levels for the rest of the year and into 2016 as production continues to outpace demand.

"While the growth in US unconventional production appears to be slowly abating, the upsurge in Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) output, robust global stock levels, and ongoing uncertainty around the strength of demand suggest that the oversupply and surpluses are likely to continue well into next year, exerting continued downward pressure on prices," the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said in its 2016 outlook on Wednesday.

Analyst estimates for oversupply in 2015 range from 0.7 to 2.5 million barrels of oil being produced per day in excess of demand.