Investing.com - Oil prices stabilized on Wednesday, after rallying around 3% in the prior session, as investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products to weigh what the impact of Harvey was on supply and demand.
Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET (2030GMT).
Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Thursday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock jump of around 4.7 million barrels.
The reports come out one day later than usual due to the U.S. Labor Day holiday on Monday.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude October contract was at $48.70 a barrel by 3:15AM ET (0715GMT), little changed on the day. It rose to its best level since Aug. 14 at $48.98 in the prior session.
Meanwhile, Brent oil for November delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London dipped 8 cents, or around 0.1%, to $53.30 a barrel. It touched a more than three-month peak of $53.66 a day earlier.
Oil prices surged on Tuesday as demand picked up and U.S. refineries started to resume operations.
Meanwhile, gasoline futures shed 0.8 cents, or about 0.5%, to $1.675 a gallon, as fears of a serious supply crunch continued to fade.
Oil refineries, pipelines and shipping channels across Texas and Louisiana began a gradual return of operations after storm system Harvey made landfall in the heart of the U.S. energy industry 10 days ago.
Still, many analysts say it could take months before the U.S. petroleum industry fully recovers from Harvey.
Market focus was being drawn to Hurricane Irma, a record Category 5 storm, which is barreling towards important shipping lanes in the Caribbean.
There is another tropical storm on Irma's heels in the Atlantic, and another one active in the Gulf of Mexico.