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The focus of investors' attention is the consequences of the hurricane "Harvey" that hit the US coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
By 17.35 GMT, futures for Brent crude rose 1.89 percent to $ 51.82 per barrel.
Futures for American oil WTI by this time traded at $ 47.12 per barrel, 2.52 percent higher than the closing of the previous session.
The main impact of the disaster was on oil refining capacity: idle capacity of primary processing in the US reached at least 4.4 million barrels per day, or nearly a quarter of the total, and new refineries are stopped because of the effects of the storm.
As a result, futures for gasoline in the US updated two-year highs and on Wednesday exceeded $ 2 per gallon.
This, in turn, pushed the US Department of Energy to use 500,000 barrels of oil from the country's strategic reserve.
At the same time, as the data of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed, oil reserves in the US decreased by 5.4 million barrels to 457.77 million barrels by August 25, while analysts predicted a 1.9 million barrel decrease. But it is worth mentioning that the EIA data does not take into account the consequences of Hurricane Harvey.
"Perhaps the oil reserves in the US will grow next couple of weeks, until the demand from the refinery returns. Nevertheless, by the end of September the situation should be normalized, "said Frank Schallenberger from LBBW.
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