SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Global oil prices recovered in Asian trade Wednesday after an overnight slump below $72 a barrel on reports of increase in US crude inventories.

Light sweet crude for October delivery was seen trading at $72.32 a barrel at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $ 75.08 a barrel in London.

Analysts said the black gold regained momentum on fresh signs of economic recovery on reports of growth in China's manufacturing industry, that boosted regional equities.

In other Nymex trading in September contracts, heating oil rose 1.33 cents to $2.005 a gallon and gasoline gained 0.96 cent to $1.867 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 3.3 cents to $3.783 per 1,000 cubic feet.

On Tuesday, American Petroleum Institute said US Crude inventories jumped 4.7 million barrels last week

However, some of the economic news was a little better on Tuesday, but it was not enough to keep oil prices from dropping again.

Benchmark crude for October delivery lost $2.78 to settle at $71.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude settled at $74.64 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

US Energy Department releases its weekly report on petroleum supplies on Wednesday. Analysts expect it to show that crude oil inventories continue to expand because of weak demand.