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U.S.
crude stocks rose by 3.1 million barrels to 461 million last
week as refineries cut output and idled capacity. Analysts had
expected a rise of 2.2 million barrels.
The oil price is set for a 7 percent gain this week, its largest
weekly increase since late August, after oil industry executives
warned that this year's fall below $50 would force higher-cost
producers to reduce output.
"Those expectations drove prices upwards, so that's being
reassessed and it's possible we'll see prices dropping below $50
again," Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said.
Brent crude oil futures rose 6 cents on the day to $51.39 a
barrel by 1058 GMT, down from an intraday high of $52.03 and
down from Wednesday's one-month high at $53.15. U.S. crude
futures rose 11 cents to $47.92 a barrel.
Underpinning the crude complex was a drop in the dollar ahead of
the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent
policy meeting, which may offer some insight into the outlook
for interest rates.
A weaker dollar tends to make it cheaper for non-U.S. investors
to buy dollar-denominated assets.
"The release of the (Fed) minutes will be the main focus for
today," Fritsch said.
With little data out this week, apart from industry and
government inventory numbers in the United States, and China on
holiday for the first three days, the market has focused on
longer-term demand trends that have supported prices.
A U.S. Energy Information Administration report on Tuesday
predicted global oil demand for 2016 would rise by the fastest
rate in six years, suggesting the crude surplus that has pushed
prices down about 50 percent since June last year is easing
faster than expected.
"That is where we have seen a little bit of a pick-up over the
last couple of sessions, but ever so slightly back to reality
over the last 10 or 12 hours," said Ben le Brun, market analyst
at OptionsXpress in Sydney.
(Addtional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in TOKYO; Editing by
Dale Hudson and David Evans)
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