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Brent futures rose $1.01, or 1.20%, to $86.83 a barrel at 0952
GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 73 cents,
or 0.90%, to $84.22 a barrel.
World shares rose and the dollar and bond market borrowing costs
held steady ahead of U.S. inflation data and European Central
Bank meeting minutes that will add to the hotly-contested debate
on where interest rates are heading.
Lower U.S. bond yields are stoking risk appetite, which in turn
is supporting equities and oil, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo
said.
"Both the Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz and Russia's
deputy prime minister Novak reiterating their ongoing
collaboration to balance oil markets are helping," he added.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said in a
Russian TV interview that it was necessary to be "proactive" on
bringing stability to the oil market, which had recently been
hit by concerns that the Israel-Hamas war could disrupt supplies
from the Middle East.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak also reassured
markets, saying the current oil price factored in the Middle
East conflict and showed that the risk from it was not high.
Meanwhile, the IEA lowered its oil demand growth forecast for
2024, suggesting harsher global economic conditions and progress
on energy efficiency will weigh on consumption.
The agency now sees 2024 demand growth at 880,000 barrels per
day (bpd), compared with its previous forecast of 1 million bpd.
However, it raised its 2023 demand forecast to 2.3 million bpd
from a forecast of 2.2 million.
U.S. data which showed a big build in crude and gasoline
inventories tempered the rally.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles swelled by about 12.9 million barrels,
according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute
figures on Wednesday. [API/S]
This was much higher than the 500,000-barrel gain expected by
analysts in a Reuters poll.
Gasoline inventories also rose by 3.6 million barrels, the data
showed, a stark contrast from the 800,000-barrel drop expected
by analysts and continued to stoke worries of slowing fuel
demand in the U.S.
Markets will be awaiting further inventory data cues from the
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) due later in the
day at 1500 GMT.
(Additional reporting by Trixie Yap in Singapore; editing by
Miral Fahmy)
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