LONDON, June 12: Oil prices rebounded slightly on Wednesday following the release of supportive statistics on US inventory levels, and further violence in the Middle East.

A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for July delivery bounced back to stand 32 cents higher at $23.57 in late trading, having fallen to its lowest level in three months the previous session.

In New York, light sweet crude July-dated futures climbed 52 cents a barrel in early deals to $24.64.

Analysts said weekly statistics from the American Petroleum Institute had fuelled much of the upward move in the oil price.

“The API data has helped a little bit. It prompted a bit of short covering,” said one broker on the floor of London’s International Petroleum Exchange, referring to investors closing out speculative market positions.

“There seems to be a general reluctance to sell the market at these kind of levels. The downside looks to be limited,” the trader told AFP.

The API said US crude oil stocks had fallen by 2.6 million barrels to 321.6 million in the week to June 7 from the previous week, while there was also a 977,000 barrel drop in gasoline stocks to 216.7 million.

Official figures from the US energy department published on Wednesday confirmed the fall, though its estimates pointed towards a drop of 1.4 million barrels in crude inventories and a fall of 1.5 million barrels in gasoline stocks.—AFP