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Brent crude futures edged up 29 cents to $76.94 a barrel by 0838
GMT after a 0.5% gain the previous day.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude firmed by 37 cents to $72.16
after rising by 2.9% in post-holiday trade on Wednesday to catch
up with Brent's gains earlier in the week.
On the supply side, top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia
announced a fresh round of output cuts for August. The total
cuts now stand at more than 5 million barrels per day (bpd),
equating to 5% of global oil output.
The cuts, along with a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude
stocks, provided some support for prices.
"The oil balance will likely tighten and so will financial
conditions, judging by the Fed minutes released last night,"
said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
"Persistent recession worries will probably encumber, but not
prevent, oil from marching higher."
The market has been expecting interest rates in the U.S. and
Europe to rise further to tame stubbornly high inflation while
fears of a global recession have been heightened by recent
surveys showing that factory and services activity in China and
Europe has slowed.
Minutes released on Wednesday showed that a united U.S. central
bank agreed to hold rates steady at its June meeting to buy time
and assess the need for further hikes, even though most
attendees expected they would eventually need to tighten policy
further.
(Reporting by Natalie Grover in LondonAdditional reporting by
Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Jeslyn Lerh in SingaporeEditing by
David Goodman)
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