SINGAPORE, June 26 Reuters Oil prices inched up during Asian trade on Wednesday despite a surprise jump in U.S. stockpiles, driven by geopolitical risks from the Middle East conflict and forecasts of an eventual inventory drawdown during the third quarter peak demand season.

Brent crude oil futures rose 41 cents, or 0.48, to 85.42 a barrel by 0613 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 46 cents, or 0.57, to 81.29 per barrel.

It seems the market is shrugging off demand concerns for now, anticipating inventory drawdowns in peak third quarter demand season. Official Energy Information Administration EIA inventory numbers today will provide the market further pointers on the trend, said Suvro Sarkar, energy sector team lead at DBS Bank.

The American Petroleum Institute API reported U.S. crude oil stocks rose by 914,000 barrels in the week ended June 21, according to market sources briefed on the data. Analysts polled by Reuters expect crude stocks to have declined by nearly 3 million barrels last week.

Official U.S. government data from the EIA on oil and fuel stockpiles is due at 1430 GMT.

Despite the near term pressure of a stronger dollar and bearish U.S. crude oil stocks data, the market is likely to find support on the back of continued OPEC cuts and stronger seasonal demand during the third quarter, said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING.

Our balance suggests the global market will be in a roughly 1.5 million barrels per day…