Oil rose on Wednesday, supported by strong demand for gasoline, but rising output from OPEC producers revived concerns about a persistent overhang of excess crude. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 21 cents at $49.05 a barrel by 1204 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were up 14 cents at $46.50 a barrel. While U.S. crude stocks rose by 1.6 million barrels to 497.2 million barrels in the week to July 14, gasoline stocks fell by a whopping 5.4 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday.

Crude oil prices started the week on the back foot on Monday, but remained close to their best levels in months amid optimism that the crude market was well on its way towards rebalancing. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures shed 11 cents, or around 0.2%, to $51.56 a barrel by 3:20AM ET (0720GMT), remaining within sight of a five-month high reached last week. WTI prices gained around 2% last week to notch their fourth-straight weekly climb. It ended September with an increase of roughly 9.5% and saw quarterly rise of about 12%. Click Read More below for more of the story.

Futures climbed 0.6 percent in New York for a fourth day of gains. Kuwait joined the U.A.E. in promising to pump less oil after Saudi Arabia called on OPEC producers to cut more supply. U.S. crude inventories declined by 7.21 million barrels last week to the lowest level since early January, according to the Energy Information Administration. The market is digesting “very strong draws in inventories across the board,” Adam Wise, who runs a $8 billion oil and natural gas bond and private equity portfolio at John Hancock Financial Services Inc. in Boston, said by telephone. “We’ve also seen comments out of Saudi Arabia supporting prices in the form of export reduction. Sentiment is finally being forced to pay attention to the fundamentals.” Click Read More below for additional details.