Crude oil futures were higher during mid-morning trade in Asia Thursday amid a draw reported in US crude inventories last week, but an upside was limited by weak global economic and growth outlook.
At 10:10 am Singapore time (0210 GMT), front-month ICE Brent September futures rose 12 cents/b (0.19%) from Wednesday's settle at $63.30/b, while the NYMEX September light sweet crude futures contract was 18 cents/b (0.32%) higher at $56.06/b.
US commercial crude inventories for the week ended July 19 fell 10.9 million barrels, according to data released by the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
Analysts surveyed Monday by S&P Global Platts were looking for a smaller draw of around 4.4 million barrels.
The drawdown was concentrated on the US Gulf Coast, where offshore production and port operations were normalizing after being disrupted by Hurricane Barry the week prior.
"The optimism was tempered by the view that production and inventories were temporarily impacted by Hurricane Barry's movement through the Gulf of Mexico," said ANZ analysts in a note.
Barry, which made landfall in western Louisiana as a weak Category 1 storm, had only minimal impact on regional infrastructure, allowing for a rapid resumption of oil shipments once the storm departed the area early last week. Crude exports rebounded off 10-week lows to 3.3 million b/d last week, EIA data showed.
Meanwhile, a bearish outlook on global demand and growth limited upside gains on prices, said analysts.
The IHS Markit US manufacturing PMI [Purchasing Managers' Indexes] released Wednesday dropped to 50 for July, down from 50.6 in June and the lowest since September 2009. The decline to 50, the neutral point of the index, indicates stagnant manufacturing business conditions.
The weak US economic report came on the heels of a downward revision in growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF lowered its projection of global growth down 0.1 percentage point for 2019 and 2020 Tuesday to 3.2% and 3.5%, respectively, because of trade tensions between the US and China and the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.
"Prices appear rangebound at the moment and we expect it to continue drifting sideways until clearer signs of economic health emerges," said OCBC Bank analysts in a note.
As of 0210 GMT, the US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 97.425.
