Oil prices rose despite an increase in the U.S. crude oil inventories. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its crude oil inventories data on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories increased by 234,000 barrels to 482.6 million in the week to January 08.

Analysts had expected U.S. crude oil inventories to rise by 2.6 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories increased by 8.4 million barrels, according to the EIA.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, climbed by 97,000 barrels.

U.S. crude oil imports increased by 678,000 barrels per day.

Refineries in the U.S. were running at 91.2% of capacity, down from 92.5% the previous week.

Earlier, Chinese crude oil import data supported oil prices. According to the official data on Wednesday, Chinese crude oil imports climbed to a record 7.82 million barrels in December. China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer.

WTI crude oil for February delivery rose to $30.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude oil for February increased to $30.80 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.