Oil prices rose during trading on Wednesday, before the release of US stockpiles data, amid expectations of a decline, and with the follow-up to the latest developments in the Corona pandemic.

Ovro Sarkar, head of energy at DBS Bank, says the biggest risk to the oil price is still the delta variable as a number of countries suffer from the virus outbreak.

But at the same time Sarkar believes that demand in the United States and Europe may continue to support prices for the time being.

In today's trading, Brent crude futures for September delivery rose by 0.5% to reach $74.85 a barrel.

The US NYMEX crude contracts for September delivery also rose by 0.7% at the level of $72.12 a barrel.

The American Petroleum Institute data showed that stocks fell by 4.7 million barrels per day for the week ending on July 23.

The EIA will release official US inventory data later today.