Investing.com - Oil prices were higher during North American morning hours on Thursday, extending gains from the prior session when an unexpected draw in U.S. gasoline inventories sparked a rally.
Crude oil for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 83 cents, or 1.6%, to $53.17 a barrel by 9:35AM ET (14:35GMT), after gaining 17 cents, or around 0.3%, a day earlier.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for April delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London tacked on 64 cents, or about 1.2%, to $55.76 a barrel. The global benchmark eased up 7 cents, or 0.1%, on Wednesday.
Oil's turnaround came after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that gasoline inventories fell by 869,000 barrels last week to 256.2 million barrels, versus analyst expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel gain.
However, the EIA report also showed that U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 13.8 million barrels to 508.6 million barrels, underlining concerns over ample domestic supplies.
Futures have been trading in a narrow range around the low-to-mid-$50s over the past month as sentiment in oil markets has been torn between hopes that oversupply may be curbed by output cuts announced by major global producers and expectations of a rebound in U.S. shale production.
OPEC and non-OPEC countries have made a strong start to lowering their oil output under the first such pact in more than a decade as global producers look to reduce oversupply and support prices.
January 1 marked the official start of the deal agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC member countries such as Russia in November last year to reduce output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day to 32.5 million for the next six months.
The deal, if carried out as planned, should reduce global supply by about 2%.
However, a revival in U.S. drilling in recent months could derail efforts by other major producers to rebalance global oil supply and demand.
U.S. drilling activity has risen by more than 6% since mid-2016, taking it back to levels seen in late 2014, when strong U.S. crude output contributed to a collapse in oil prices.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for March ticked up 1.1 cents, or 0.7%, to $1.564 a gallon, while March heating oil rose 1.8 cents ,or 1.1%, to $1.653 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for March delivery jumped 5.6 cents, or 1.8%, to $3.182 per million British thermal units.