Crude prices jumped on Thursday in Asia as the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a larger-than-expected drop in stocks.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for February delivery jumped 2.01 percent to $53.83 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent crude was up 1.89% to $56.52 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
API said crude oil inventories last week dropped 7.4 million barrels, compared to a 1.7 million barrels decline seen.
The estimates followed last week’s build of 4.20 million barrels that was the fifth draw in the last seven weeks. More closely-watched official figures from the U.S. Department of Energy are due on Thursday.
Gasoline supplies rose 4.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks jumped 5.2 million barrels and supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma rose by 500,000 barrels.
Elsehwere in the oil market, the focus remains on a strong dollar and an OPEC committee meeting Jan. 21-22 in Vienna to monitor compliance with an agreement along with non-OPEC members to trim nearly 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from global markets.