LONDON, July 23: Oil prices held relatively steady on Wednesday despite a dip in US crude inventories, with analysts saying any effect from the widely expected stocks figures had already been priced in.

The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for September delivery was up 11 cents to $27.60 per barrel.

New York’s light sweet crude reference September contract was showing a gain of 11 cents to $29.60 in early trading.

The small increases came despite weekly figures from the US Department of Energy showing that crude oil inventories had fallen by 2.3 million barrels to 276.3 million in the week ended July 18, against the previous week.

When compared with the same period last year, inventories were down by 34.0 million barrels, the department said.

Gasoline stocks dropped by 1.6 million barrels to 207.8 million barrels on a weekly basis.

A separate, private survey by the American Petroleum Institute also showed drops in supplies of crude oil and gasoline.

Falls in previous weeks have prompted a sudden spike in prices, but analysts said that a drain on inventories had been expected after Hurricane Claudette swept across the Texas coast last week, causing many oil facilities to close.—AFP