Investing.com - Oil prices extended gains on Thursday after hitting a two-week high in the previous session, as data showed the U.S. commercial crude inventories dropped in the week to Aug. 17.
Brent Oil Futures for October delivery edged up 0.1% to $74.84 per barrel at 11:49PM ET (03:49 GMT), while Crude Oil WTI Futures for October delivery also grew 0.3% to $68.04 a barrel.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that the U.S. commercial crude oil inventories went down by 5.8 million barrels in the week to Aug. 17 to 408.36 million barrels.
"Oil prices jumped overnight as inventories drew down more than expected," said William O'Loughlin, investment analyst at Australia's Rivkin Securities.
Meanwhile, China and the U.S. officials held lower-level trade talks this week for the first time in two months as the two countries seek to resolve the escalating trade dispute. Washington is due to impose $16 billion worth of new tariffs on Chinese products on Thursday, while China said it would impose retaliatory tariffs on the same amount of U.S. goods.
The U.S. is also set to impose sanctions against Iran, the world’s fifth largest exporter, in November.
In other news, Kuwait is likely to sign deals with Saudi Arabia and Iraq to develop shared oil fields by the end of this year and start producing oil soon, reports on Thursday revealed. According to estimates from the EIA and the Oil and Gas Journal, the 6,200-square-mile area, destined for energy production, holds 5 billion barrels of oil and 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The Kuwait Oil and Electricity Minister Bakheet Al-Rashidi said on Wednesday that “matters with brothers in Saudi Arabia are going at a steady pace and we expect the return of production in the divided region soon.”