Investing.com - Oil prices were higher during U.S. morning hours on Thursday, pulling away from the prior session's one-week low after the International Energy Agency said world oil markets are slowly tightening as demand rises.
Market players also awaited fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.
Crude oil for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on 58 cents, or around 1.2%, to $51.66 a barrel by 8:55AM ET (13:55GMT), after tumbling $1.37, or nearly 2.6%, a day earlier.
U.S. crude prices sank to a one-week low of $50.91 on Wednesday after the head of the International Energy Agency predicted a "significant" boost to U.S. output.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for March delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London climbed 56 cents, or nearly 1.1%, to $54.47 a barrel, after falling $1.55, or 2.8%, in the prior session. London-traded Brent futures slid to a low of $53.77 on Wednesday.
In its monthly oil market report, the IEA said output cuts announced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 non-OPEC producers in November had "entered their probation period".
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%.
A monitoring committee charged with tracking adherence to the global deal is due to meet in Vienna for the first time on January 22.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 11:00AM ET (16:00GMT) Thursday, amid analyst expectations for a decline of 342,000 barrels.
Gasoline inventories are expected to rise by 2.0 million barrels while stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, are forecast to increase by 0.2 million barrels.
This week's report comes out one day later than usual due to Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
After markets closed Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories fell by 5.0 million barrels in the week ended January 13.
The API report also showed a gain of 9.75 million barrels in gasoline stocks, while distillate stocks rose 1.75 million barrels.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for February ticked up 0.6 cents, or 0.45% to $1.552 a gallon, while February heating oil added 1.7 cents, or 1.1%, to $1.627 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for February delivery shed 2.3 cents, or 0.7%, to $3.379 per million British thermal units.
Market participants looked ahead to weekly storage data due at 10:30ET (15:30GMT), which is expected to show a draw of 231 billion cubic feet in the week ended January 13.
That compares with a withdrawal of 151 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, 178 billion a year earlier and a five-year average drop of 170 billion cubic feet.