Oil prices  were little changed on Wednesday despite an unexpected plunge in commercial crude reserves in the United States, as the market remained concerned about the level of global demand for black gold.

A barrel of North Sea Brent for delivery in March lost in London 0.18% or 10 cents, to $55.81.

The US barrel of WTI for the same month rose in New York by 0.46% or 24 cents, to $ 52.85.

According to a weekly report by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) released Wednesday, U.S. commercial crude inventories deflated by 9.9 million barrels (MB) in the week ended Jan. 22, falling to their lowest level since last March.

On the contrary, analysts' median forecast was for an increase of 1.5 MB.

Despite this plunge, which suggests a lower supply, the market remained disturbed by alarming signals on the consumption side.

"Economic data continues to show the negative impact of the second wave of coronavirus infections and vaccination campaigns around the world still leave much to be desired," says Bart Melek of TD Securities.

"This leads many observers, including TD Securities, to lower their demand forecasts for 2021," the expert continues.

Market experts believe that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, which have been subject to production quotas for several months to curb the fall in prices, will show less discipline with the rise in prices.

The prices of the two reference contracts began their last convalescence in November, with the announcement of vaccines against Covid-19, to settle since mid-January in an area that investors seem to consider faithful to the current situation of supply and demand for black gold.