By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil prices rose Wednesday morning in Asia with investors weighing supply tightness of gasoline against the possibility of economic slowdowns and continued lockdowns in China.

The price of a barrel rose $1.26 or 1.14% to $111.95 by 1:28 AM ET (5:00 AM GMT), and was up 1.22% to $111.11.

The U.S. saw an increase in oil stocks but a decrease in gasoline stockpiles last week. According to inventories of crude, the U.S. witnessed an unexpected rise of 567,000 barrels over the week ending May 10. This is a contrast to the draw of 2.4 millions barrels the previous week. Analysts were expecting an increase in crude oil inventories to decrease by 690,000 barrels.

However, gasoline inventories decreased by 4.2 million barrels. These fears continue to fuel inflation concerns and raise the possibility of higher gas prices. This is a bad time to be dropping gasoline inventories and likely price increases, as the summer rush in U.S. driving begins.

Also, distillate stocks fell by 949 000 barrels.

It is anticipated that it will be held on Wednesday.

China continues to make slow steps towards opening Shanghai, but the city is still struggling with a COVID-related outbreak that has now been infected for over a month.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), prices will continue rising unless China’s demand is strong in the coming months. According to Platts the demand from China for oil dropped 11.5% in April compared with last year. This could change if there is an increase in the number of cities that have lockdowns.