Brent crude was up 14 cents at $46.34 a barrel. The global benchmark closed 97 cents, or 2.1%, lower on Thursday. Brent is on track for a decline of nearly 3% this week.

The global glut in oil has been easing but with huge amounts of crude being held in tanks and tankers on land and water, the rebalancing has taken longer than many expected.

"There is so much oil in storage that it will take months to truly feel the erosion of the overhang," Energy Aspects said in a note.

Iraq's oil exports are set to rise in July, according to loading data and an industry source, putting supply growth from Opec's second-largest producer back on track after two months of declines.

Iraq in 2015 provided Opec's biggest rise in supply. The growth has slowed this year due to maintenance and technical problems, and Iraqi officials say seasonally higher domestic use has curbed volumes available for export.

Exports from southern Iraq in the first 21 days of July have averaged 3.28 million barrels per day, according to loading data tracked by Reuters and an industry source. That would be up from 3.18 million bpd in June.

This year it is Iran that is supplying the biggest increase in exports from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as the country recovers from Western sanctions.

While US production has been falling, crude inventories are at a historically high 519.5 million barrels for this time of year, the EIA said earlier this week.

Also, total US crude and oil product stocks rose 2.62 million barrels to an all-time high of 2.08 billion barrels as gasoline stocks posted a surprise build of 911,000 barrels during summer driving season.