NEW YORK: Oil was under pressure on Wednesday as a resurgent dollar weighed on crude prices ahead of inventory data expected to show whether fuel demand was accelerating with the peak US driving season under way.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group, will issue at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030) estimates on crude and oil products in storage ahead of Thursday’s official data from the US government.

Analysts polled by Reuters forecast on the average a 2 million barrel draw in crude stocks last week, marking a fourth consecutive week in inventory declines. But some traders think crude stocks may have actually risen last week even as demand for gasoline picked up.

“If you’re looking for a catalyst for price recovery from this data, you may not really get it, and that’s why the dollar’s been exerting it’s strength over oil,” said John Kilduff, a partner at New York-based commodities fund Again Capital.

North Sea Brent crude LCOc1 was down 70 cents at $63.02 a barrel by 11:33 a.m. EDT (1533 GMT), after rising nearly $1 earlier in the session.

US crude showed a five-cent decline at $57.98 a barrel, seesawing between negative and positive territory.

Oil prices had fallen nearly 3 percent the previous day, also pressured by a rally in the dollar.

The dollar rose against major currencies on Wednesday on expectations the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates later this year on signs of a US economic recovery from an anemic first quarter. A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities, including oil, less affordable for users of other currencies.

“We are hostages a little bit to the swings in the currency markets,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

API’s inventory estimates are delayed from their routine Tuesday release because of the US Memorial Day holiday on Monday.

The government’s Energy Information Administration will also publish a day late, at 1500 GMT (10 a.m. EDT) on Thursday.

Kilduff said he expects crude stocks to have risen by about half a million barrels last week in spite of a 2 million-barrel draw in gasoline.

Chicago-based Ritterbusch & Associates, a contributor to the Reuters poll, expects a crude build of nearly 2 million barrels and a gasoline draw of 0.8 million barrels.

Citi Futures forecast a 2.5 million barrel draw in crude and a 1 million barrel build in gasoline.