Oil surges

London/Singapore

Oil prices edged up on Thursday, but the market continued to be weighed down by high production, especially in the United States.

Brent crude futures were at $50.36 per barrel at 0657 GMT, up 9 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $46.80 a barrel, up just 2 cents.

The slight gains followed a more than 1 percent fall in the previous session. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data on Wednesday showed that commercial U.S. crude oil stocks have fallen by almost 13 percent from their peaks in March to 466.5 million barrels.

Stocks are now lower than in 2016."If inventory declines continue at this pace, stocks will fall back below the five-year average in around two months," said William O´Loughlin, analyst at Australia´s Rivkin Securities.