Aug 20. In global petroleum market news, oil prices were slightly higher in Asian trading on Wednesday, around USD 115/bbl as investors await today’s midweek crude inventory report. Light, sweet crude for September delivery was up 55 cents at USD 115.08 barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The contract surged USD 1.66 yesterday to settle at USD 114.53 a barrel. In London, October Brent crude rose 49 cents to USD 113.74 a barrel. Investors are waiting for a report by the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration on U.S. oil stocks for the week ended August 15 later today. We expect the petroleum supply report to show that gasoline inventories fell by 3.8 mn barrels, while oil stocks likely rose 1.3 mn barrels and distillates went up 1 mn barrels during last week. Oil prices have rebounded after falling about USD 35, or nearly 25%, from their all-time trading record USD 147.27 on July 11 on expectations that high gasoline prices and slowing economic growth in the U.S., Europe and Japan will undermine global energy demand. Weighing on prices was a slightly stronger dollar compared to the euro. The 15-nation euro traded was down to USD 1.4762, while the dollar rose to 109.88 yen. A rising greenback encourages investors who had been seeking commodities like oil as a hedge against inflation to sell their positions. In our opinion, credit markets need to improve in the U.S. before we see a sustained rally in the dollar. The dollar may have peaked and we do not believe the current rally in the U.S. currency has legs. Looking ahead, the market appears to be entering the corrective phase after a period of sustained downside. We believe prices are starting to consolidate in the range of USD 112-118.