WTI & Brent sit ~$0.50 above their respective...>

OIL: WTI & Brent sit ~$0.50 above their respective settlement levels at writing

after a late leg higher on Tuesday.

- The latest round of API oil inventory estimates underpinned in post-settlement

trade, with reports pointing to a larger than expected drawdown in headline

crude stocks, coupled with a larger than expected drawdown in gasoline stocks, a

surprise drawdown in distillate stocks and a drawdown in stocks at the Cushing

hub.

- On the supply front, late Tuesday saw RTRS sources suggest that Libya's

Sharara oilfield was shutting down "after a valve on the pipeline linking it to

the Zawiya oil terminal was shut."

- WTI prices did pull back at the re-open of electronic trade on the back of a

Washington Post article which suggested that "after an internal policy battle,

the Trump administration is set to announce later this week that it will once

again waive five different nuclear-related sanctions on Iran." However, the move

was shallow and short-lived.

- DoE inventory data will provide interest on Wednesday.