The market's wait for the up-to-the-minute weekly snapshot of energy stocks in the US brought about a slight drop in the oil prices on Wednesday, from the past two-and-a-half month high!

As per a Reuters poll, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) stock data reflects an up in crude oil inventories last week, due to lukewarm refinery demand and a slight rise in imports.

The Wednesday price moved towards $48 per barrel, largely because of the industry figures depicting big builds in the crude stocks in US. In New York, the oil prices came down to $49.01 per barrel - marking a 15 cents fall.

The figures indicate that oil prices have plunged $100 from a record July high of nearly $150, largely because the economic crisis has resulted in a fall in demand for fuel all over the world. However, the prices that nosedived to a below $35 level a month back appeared to have somewhat steadied in the range of $40 to $50.

The price stabilization in the mentioned range results from producer group OPEC's projected output cuts of 4.2 million barrels per day last September onwards. According to analysts, with the OPEC likely to slash production further during its May meeting, and the prospect should support prices.