TOKYO,July 29 (Reuters);

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after an industry report showed that crude inventories in the United States fell against expectations, giving the market a boost amid record increases of coronavirus infections in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up by 14 cents, or 0.3%, at $43.36 a barrel by 0326 GMT, after dropping 0.4% on Tuesday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 gained 2 cents, or 0.1%, to $41.06 a barrel, having dropped 1.4% in the previous session.

Inventories of crude oil in the U.S. dropped by 6.8 million barrels last week to 531 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday.

Analysts’ expectations were for an increase of 357,000 barrels. U.S. government data is due Wednesday.

“This should temporarily alleviate some concerns about ongoing demand distress,” Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp said in a note.

The raging COVID-19 pandemic is keeping alive concerns about falling fuel demand causing an oversupplied market as record numbers of infections are reported globally, including the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of oil.

Four U.S. states reported one-day records for coronavirus deaths