Oil prices picked up on Wednesday, driven by hope for better days for demand and before the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) published the state of crude stocks in the country.

Around 11:25 GMT (12:25 in Paris), North Sea Brent crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.18% in London compared to Tuesday's close, to 48.93 dollars.

At the same time, American WTI oil in New York appreciated by 0.33% to 45.75 dollars in January.

“Oil prices are holding steady and are even approaching their recent multi-month highs,” said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.

Brent was indeed trading close to the symbolic threshold of 50 dollars per barrel, which it already approached on Friday. Exceeding it would return the European benchmark to a rate that has been most viewed since March 6, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic

“Optimism around the coronavirus vaccine is helping to drive up oil prices,” said Avatrade's Naeem Aslam.

The United Kingdom launched its Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Tuesday, the first in a Western country, and investors are now waiting for it to become widespread across the world in order to end travel restrictions and boost demand for crude oil.

In addition, observers and market participants “will take a close look at the upcoming data on crude stocks (in the United States), the main event of the day for black gold,” Mr. Aslam continued.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), the federation that brings together professionals in the oil sector, published its estimate of the state of stocks in the country on Tuesday, reporting an increase of 1.1 million barrels.

The EIA, with figures deemed more reliable, will publish its own later today on Wednesday. According to the median number of analysts interviewed by Bloomberg, the institution expects, on the contrary, a decrease of around 1.035 million barrels for the week ending December 4