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Brent futures were up 73 cents, or 1.01%, to $73.06 a barrel by
0957 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 49
cents, or 0.71%, to $69.09, after falling earlier in the session
to $63.64, the lowest since Dec. 2, 2021.
Prices have plunged this week on concerns about the U.S. economy
and signs of weak manufacturing growth in the world's largest
oil importer China, sliding further after the U.S. Federal
Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday. That capped
near-term economic growth prospects.
However the market has seen some support from the Fed's signal
that it may pause further interest rate increases to give
officials time to assess the fallout from recent bank failures
and to gain clarity on the dispute over raising the U.S. debt
ceiling.
"With the Fed possibly pausing, the debt ceiling hopefully
resolved this month, the OPEC+ cut felt in a few weeks' time and
global demand picking up in the second half of the year, we are
growing in conviction that the question is not how low oil
prices will fall, but how long," oil broker PVM's Tamas Varga
said.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)and
allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, started
voluntary output cuts at the beginning of this month.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday
the country was abiding by its voluntary pledge to cut oil
output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from February until the
end of the year.
Investors are also awaiting developments from the European
Central Bank, which is set to raise interest rates for the
seventh meeting in a row on Thursday.
(Reporting by Rowena Edwards in London; Additional reporting by
Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore and Stephanie Kelly in New York;
Editing by Jan Harvey)
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