Investing.com - Oil prices continued to gain on Friday in Asia on fall in U.S. crude stockpiles.
U.S. Crude Oil WTI Futures rose 0.3% to $56.21 by 12:12 AM ET (04:12 GMT), while international Brent Oil Futures inched up 0.1% to $63.45.
For the year, WTI is up about 23%. Brent has risen about 18%.
Without any other significant directional drivers, analysts said the gains today were led by bullish supply-side fundamentals, including data from a day earlier showing a draw in U.S. stockpiles for the sixth-consecutive week.
U.S. crude stocks fell by 10.8 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday, well above Investing.com's consensus expectations for a draw of 4 million barrels.
However, some analysts believe the weekly data was partially distorted by Hurricane Barry, which came ashore on the central Louisiana coast earlier this month and forced many oil platforms to shut down their production.
Concerns over Middle Easy supply disruptions also continued to be cited as supporting the oil markets, although a slowing global economic growth kept gains limited.
On the Sino-U.S. trade front, officials from both sides are set to resume in-person trade talks as soon as next week, according to reports.