Brent crude futures were trading at $46.88 per barrel early on Friday, up 48 cents, or 1.03%, from their last settlement. US crude was up 37 cents, or 0.82%, at $45.51 a barrel.

The bounce came after a 5%t fall in prices the previous sessions, to two-month lows, after the US government reported a weekly draw in crude oil inventories that was lower than many analysts had expected.

US commercial crude stocks fell by 2.22 million barrels to 524.35 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). This was a lower withdrawal rate than many traders had expected, resulting in a late Thursday sell-off as traders feared the oil glut would remain bigger than anticipated.

Yet on Friday traders said that the price fall in response to the inventory reduction had been an overreaction as crude stocks had now fallen for almost two months straight, and US production is also down again.

US crude production has fallen by 12.3% since its 2015 peaks and by 8.74% since January this year to 8.43 million barrels per day, the lowest since June 2014, when the 2014-2016 oil price rout began.

"US shale oil continues to hurt, as many banks are exiting the segment in general," fuel hedging firm Global Risk Management said in its second-half 2016 oil market outlook.

Traders said, however, that the outlook would likely be choppy as the threat of supply reductions could tighten markets.

"The increased unrest and attacks on pipelines among others in Nigeria and Iraq affect the countries' oil output," Global Risk Management said.

However, an ongoing glut in refined products, especially in Asia and North America, as well as slowing economic growth weighed on oil.

"Bearish fundamentals in the global gasoline market in 2016 will depress prices in the second half," said BMI Research, although adding that it expected demand to recover after that.

Global Risk Management expects Brent to average $51 per barrel in the third quarter of this year and $52 a barrel by Q4.