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By 16.38 GMT, futures for Brent crude oil climbed 0.50 % to $ 52.62 a barrel.
Futures for U.S. crude WTI by this time traded at $ 49.74 per barrel, 0.3 % higher than the previous closing.
U.S. oil inventories fell by 1.53 million barrels to 481.89 million barrels in the week to July 28, while analysts predicted a decline of 2.96 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
According to the EIA, gasoline stocks decreased by 2.52 million barrels to 227.68 million barrels against the forecast of a decrease of 0.64 million barrels.
The main pressure factor remains the growth in OPEC production, which in July increased by 90,000 barrels per day to 33 million barrels per day.
OPEC oil exports in July rose to 26.11 million barrels per day, which exceeds the level of shipments of the previous month by 370,000 barrels per day, data of Thomson Reuters Oil Research showed on Thursday.
According to forecasts of analysts of National Australia Bank, oil will continue to trade in a narrow corridor of $ 50-55 per barrel until the end of 2017.
Goldman Sachs and BMI Research specialists at the same time believe that large world oil companies have already adapted to the new reality, namely, low prices for raw materials, which previously made the implementation of mining projects unprofitable.
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