Crude oil futures were stable to marginally higher during mid-morning trade in Asia Thursday, amid a mixed report on US inventory data and ongoing geopolitical tensions. At 10:20 am Singapore time (0220 GMT), front-month ICE Brent September futures rose 18 cents/b (0.28%) from Wednesday’s settle at $63.84/b, while the NYMEX August light sweet crude futures contract was 4 cents/b (0.07%) higher at $56.82/b. According to data released by the US Energy information Administration on Wednesday, US crude inventory for the week ended July 12 fell 3.11 million barrels to 455.88 million barrels. Analysts surveyed Monday by S&P Global Platts were looking for a bigger draw of 4.2 million barrels for the same period. “While the oil inventories numbers were largely supportive, a surprise buildup in distillate and gasoline stockpiles started weighing on oil prices following […]