After a 58-cents fall in oil prices to $69.31 a barrel on Tuesday – following a US government report showing that fuel supplies in the country have risen more than estimated – the crude oil traded hovered slightly above the $69-a-barrel mark on Wednesday to settle at $69.17 a barrel.

The shore up in prices resulted from a weekly crude inventory report from the Energy Information Administration of the Energy Department, which revealed that the highest energy-consuming country had lost 3.7 million barrels for the week ended June 26. A 15.8 million barrels drop in supplies over the last month is an indication that crude demand is picking up.

Commenting on the situation, chief market strategist, Bill O’Grady, of the St. Louis-based investment advisory and management firm Confluence Investment Management LLC - said: “Supply and consumption remain really bad. It’s hard to make a bullish case for anything.”

In a recent report, Barclays Capital said that during the July to September period this year, oil will probably trade between $65 a barrel and $75, with a $71 a barrel average in the third quarter and $76 in the fourth quarter.

Detailing further, Barclays said the company forecasts that the “upward momentum” in many commodities would likely slow down over the forthcoming quarters; and later on, fresh highs would be reached “when the cycle becomes expansive.”