LONDON: Oil prices rose on Wednesday. US crude, also known as West Texas Intermediate or WTI, was 21 cents higher at $45.44 a barrel by 1458 GMT, on course to end September down 7 percent.

Brent crude oil was up 32 cents at $48.55 a barrel, heading for a 9 percent fall this month.

The market defied bearish news of a larger-than-expected build in US crude oil stockpiles. Inventories rose by 4 million barrels to 457.92 million barrels last week, US government data showed, much less than a forecast of a 1 million barrel rise.