Crude oil futures were higher during mid-morning trade in Asia Thursday amid a draw reported in US crude inventories last week, while more clarity emerged on the schedule of OPEC's bi-annual meeting.
At 10:30 am Singapore time (0230 GMT), ICE Brent August futures rose 70 cents/b (1.15%) from Wednesday's settle at $62.52/b, while the NYMEX July light sweet crude futures contract was up 67 cents/b (1.25%) at $54.43/b.
US commercial crude stocks dipped 3.11 million barrels to 482.36 million barrels during the week ended June 25, according to data released by the US Energy Information Administration.
Analysts surveyed Monday by S&P Global Platts were looking for US crude stocks to have declined by 2 million barrels for the same period.
The EIA report was also bullish for product inventory with US gasoline inventories falling 1.7 million barrels last week to 233.22 million barrels, while distillate inventories fell 550,000 barrels to 127.82 million barrels.
"Traders were also buoyed by stronger gasoline demand. Stockpiles of the motor fuel unexpectedly fell. When combined with stronger output, this saw demand hit a record high of 9.928 million b/d," ANZ analysts said in a note Thursday.
Total product supplied for gasoline, a proxy for demand, edged up 51,000 b/d last week to 9.93 million b/d, the highest weekly figure ever reported by the EIA. Gasoline demand was 4.75% stronger than the five-year average for this time of year.
"This [bullish EIA data] comes after OPEC finally agreed to a date to discuss production cuts, with the groups three biggest members, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iraq, all indicating that they want to keep restraining production, " the ANZ analysts added.
OPEC and its allies have fixed the date of their upcoming meeting in Vienna for July 1-2, ending a protracted scheduling spat that the organization's president had said was keeping the oil market on edge.
With 11 days left before the OPEC/non-OPEC coalition's 1.2 million b/d production cut agreement set to expire at the end of June, several ministers have signaled that an extension is likely, as oil prices have slumped on downbeat global economic forecasts.
"Members are expected to continue their production curbs into H2 2019, as Saudi Arabia has publicly spoken of their intention to do so more than once in the past month," analysts from OCBC Bank said in a note.
As of 0230 GMT, the US Dollar index was down 0.24% at 96.49.
