US crude inventories fell for a fourth straight week before turning back to green to reflect more positive demand.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded around $75.10 on Friday. WTI prices edged higher following a drop in crude oil inventories and positive US labor data.
The weekly report of the Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude oil stocks in the United States for the week ending August 2 fell by 3.728 million barrels compared to the fall of 3.436 million barrels in the previous week.
However, market expectations estimate that stocks will decrease by 0.4 million.
Furthermore, US Initial Jobless Claims data released on Thursday eased concerns about weakness in the US labor market.
The figure for total claims for the week ended August 3 rose by 233,000 compared to the previous week's 250,000 below the consensus of 240,000.
Additionally, concerns of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East may limit WTI's gains if Iran and Israel upset crude oil flows in the region.
On the other hand, weaker demand in China may drag down crude oil prices as they are the world's largest oil importer.
Official data showed China's crude oil imports fell to 10.01 million barrels per day in July.
Analysts forecast a year-on-year decline in imports in 2024 with expectations that crude oil imports could fall by 150,000 to 200,000 barrels per day.
