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Brent crude futures were up $2.06, or 1.9%, at $109.51 a barrel
at 1100 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
futures climbed $2.10, or 2%, to $108.23 a barrel.
Both benchmark contracts were, however, on track to post
declines for the week, with Brent set to drop 3% and WTI almost
2%.
The market is continuing to be pushed and pulled by the prospect
of a European Union ban on Russian oil tightening supply and
concerns about faltering global demand.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said in a
note that oil traders were looking "for a glimmer of light at
the end of China's gloomy lockdown tunnel".
"Still, we continuously end up at square one with lower case
counts weighted against the authorities doubling down on their
zero COVID policy," he added.
Inflation and rate rises have driven the U.S. dollar to 20-year
highs, capping oil price gains as a stronger dollar makes oil
more expensive when purchased in other currencies.
Analysts, however, continue to focus on the prospect of a
European Union ban on Russian oil, after Moscow imposed
sanctions this week on European units of state-owned Gazprom and
after Ukraine halted a key gas transit route.
"With European natural gas prices soaring, it is inevitable that
some spillover into oil will occur," OANDA senior market analyst
Jeffrey Halley said in a note
"An escalation by Russia on the sanctions front is likely to
flow into oil price strength," he added.
An International Energy Agency report on Thursday said rising
oil production in the Middle East and the United States and a
slowdown in demand growth were "expected to fend off an acute
supply deficit amid a worsening Russian supply disruption".
(Additional reporting by Sonali Paul and Isabel Kua; Editing by
David Evans and Mark Potter)
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