•IPE Brent futures in London were largely unchanged from their overnight settle as no fresh news left traders waiting for direction from US inventory stock data due out later Wednesday.

•Analysts were projecting a build in gasoline inventories of 1.5 million barrels as a result of higher run rates and yields. "People are anticipating another build in gasoline and if it happens then that will drive the market for the rest of the day," a broker said.

•US stocks data due to be released later in the day by the Energy Information Administration and American Petroleum Institute are expected to show a 1.2 million barrel draw in commercial crude stocks, according to analysts surveyed by Platts Tuesday. "...[I]'m expecting draws this week - corrections, essentially - noise rather than signal, but it could still spook the market higher," Deborah White, energy analyst at Societe Generale, said in a note."

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