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Brent crude futures were at $53.45 per barrel at 1117 GMT, up 52
cents from their last close.
U.S. crude futures were up 45 cents at $50.89 a barrel.
OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait signaled that an effort by
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other
producers, including Russia, to cut oil output was likely to be
extended beyond June.
But bloated inventories weighed. Despite a drop in U.S. crude
stocks last week, an unexpected 1.5-million-barrel build in
gasoline stocks drove prices more than 3.5 percent lower on
Wednesday.
U.S. crude oil production rose to 9.25 million barrels per day,
official data showed, up almost 10 percent since mid-2016.
"The rebalancing in U.S. crude stocks may have got under way,
but concerns of further gasoline builds are rife even as the
U.S. summer driving season shifts up a gear," said Stephen
Brennock, an analyst with PVM Oil Associates.
"With questions hanging over U.S. gasoline demand, any further
product builds will act as a brake on the oil price recovery."
Global fuel stocks are well above the five-year average, and
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih was quoted on Thursday as
saying inventories remained elevated in part because traders
were selling supplies out of tanker storage.
In China, signs emerged that refiners were using record crude
imports to produce more fuel such as gasoline and diesel than
the country can absorb.
China's March gasoline output rose 2.5 percent year-on-year to
11.24 million tonnes, the highest level since at least April
2014, China's National Bureau of Statistics said, adding fuel
into an Asian market that is already well supplied.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein; in Singapore;
Editing by Dale Hudson and David Evans)
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