WTI & Brent trade ~$0.30 above settlement.......>

OIL: WTI & Brent trade ~$0.30 above settlement after a choppy Tuesday session

saw WTI settle virtually unch. with Brent outperforming WTI by ~$0.30. Crude has

drawn support from reports pointing to a larger than exp. drawdown for headline

crude stocks in the latest weekly crude API inventory estimates. The reports

also pointed to a surprise, albeit modest, drawdown in gasoline stocks, a

drawdown in stocks at Cushing & a larger than exp. build in distillate stocks.

- News flow has also been supportive. Late Tuesday RTRS reported that "a fire

swept through the engine room of a tanker owned by Venezuela's state oil company

PDVSA on Monday while it was anchored at Amuay Bay near the country's largest

refinery." Details remain sparse, but this adds to the list of headwinds that

the oil-producing country is facing at present. Elsewhere, there has been

suggestions from RTRS sources that "Lotus Midstream LLC may reverse flows on a

line now sending crude from West Texas to Cushing, Oklahoma, the main hub for

pricing U.S. crude futures Tuesday, an unusual move that could lift U.S.

benchmark prices by draining supplies."

- The latest round of weekly DoE inventory data will draw interest today.