The International Energy Agency's (IEA) warning of a reduction in oil supplies has prompted a slight increase in black commodity trading after closing lower on Wednesday.
At the opening of the European session, US WTI crude futures traded slightly higher at around $ 97 a barrel, while Brent oil was up at $ 100 a barrel.
Both benchmarks had previously slipped lower following an unexpected increase in U.S. crude oil supplies and signs of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
However, the commodity rebounded after the IEA said that about 3 million barrels a day of Russian oil may be affected by Western sanctions. This will exceed the expected reduction of 1 million barrels per day in demand due to high prices.
This to some extent mitigates the impact of the surge exhibited in the latest U.S. oil inventory data.
Meanwhile, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported crude oil supplies increased 4.3 million barrels last week, falling short of expectations for a decline of 1.4 million barrels.
