Brent crude futures were down 6 cents, or 0.1%, at $50.91 a barrel early on Thursday, after rising about 1.5% in the previous session.

 

US West Texas Intermediate futures were down 6 cents, or 0.1%, at $48.69 a barrel.

 

US crude stocks fell sharply last week as refineries increased output and imports declined, while gasoline stocks decreased and distillate inventories fell, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

 

The 7.2 million barrel decline in crude inventories in the week ending 21 July was well above the 2.6 million barrel forecast.

 

"This marks the fourth consecutive week that total hydrocarbon inventories have fallen during a time of year when they normally increase," said PIRA Energy oil analyst Jenna Delaney.

 

US shale producers including Hess, Anadarko Petroleum and Whiting Petroleum this week announced plans to cut spending this year as a result of low oil prices.

 

Optimism that the long-oversupplied market is moving towards balance was also supported by news earlier in the week that Saudi Arabia plans to limit its crude exports to 6.6 million barrels per day in August, about 1 million bpd below its export levels a year earlier.

 

Fellow Opec members Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have also promised export cuts.

 

"The narrowing of the global glut is still on track," OCBC said.

 

But analysts say oil prices may have little room to head higher as recent gains could encourage more output, particularly from US shale producers with low costs.

 

"The market will likely be paying even more attention to drilling activity in the US in the coming weeks, particularly after suggestions from certain industry players that the rig count in the US is slowing," ING said in a research note on Wednesday.