Crude oil futures were higher during mid-morning trade in Asia Wednesday amid signs of easing trade tensions between US and China while a draw reported in US crude inventories also supported the price rise.
At 11:00 am Singapore time (0300 GMT), February ICE Brent crude futures were up 32 cents/b (0.47%) from Wednesday's settle at $60.47/b, while the NYMEX January light sweet crude contract was 23 cents/b (0.45%) higher at $51.40/b.
Signs of easing trade tensions between the US and China emerged amid news that China is reworking its trade policy with the US.
"The news that China is looking to redraft its Made in China 2025 plan boosted hopes that trade talks are progressing better than expected, " ANZ analysts said in a note Thursday.
Moreover a draw reported in the US crude inventories although lower than expected also helped prices remain supported, analysts said.
"A draw down in US crude inventories helped support sentiment, although it was less than expected," ANZ analysts said.
US crude stocks fell 1.21 million barrels to 441.95 million barrels for the week ended December 7, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
Analysts surveyed Monday by S&P Global Platts had been expecting a larger, 2.18 million barrel decline for the same period, while reports from the American Petroleum Institute had reported a draw of 10.18 million barrels.
US crude exports slipped last week, but remained robust and thus likely helped drive stocks lower. Exports averaged 2.27 million b/d last week, down from a record 3.2 million b/d the week prior, EIA data showed.
Elsewhere, OPEC will have to attain 100% compliance with its new supply cut accord and count on continued production declines in Iran and Venezuela if it wants to prevent a price-depressing build in oil inventories, the organization's own analysis suggests.
In its closely watched Monthly Oil Market Report out Monday, full compliance from OPEC would still leave the bloc some 500,000 b/d above expected demand for its crude for the first quarter of 2019 and 400,000 b/d above the call for the second quarter.
OPEC's 15 members pumped 32.98 million b/d in October, according to an average of the six independent secondary sources used by the group to monitor output.
The forecasted call on OPEC crude for Q1 2019 is 31.67 million b/d, rising to 31.77 million b/d in Q2, OPEC said.
As of 0300 GMT, the US Dollar Index was up 0.06% at 97.09.
