Oil prices rose slightly Wednesday after U.S. crude inventories declined for the eighth straight week and U.S. crude production increased only slightly.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 19 cents to $52.06 a barrel by 10:37 a.m. EDT (1437 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were trading at $47.86, up 3 cents.

U.S. crude inventories USOILC=ECI fell 3.3 million barrels last week, compared with analyst expectations for an decrease of 3.5 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI fell 503,000 barrels, the Energy Information Administration said. [EIA/S]

“Oil inventories continue their downward trend despite a significant increase in crude oil imports this week,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, Texas.

Still he said, the market is shrugging off the inventory draws, which are approaching 75 million barrels since March, plus another 15 million in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

“It continues to wait to see more confirmation from around the world that inventories are indeed declining,” Lipow said.

Production from Libya’s Sharara oilfield, the conflict-riven country’s largest, has been seesawing. The field remained shut on Wednesday, two Libyan oil sources told Reuters. The field had restarted at least once on Tuesday amid conflicting reports about whether it had reopened.