The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery added 87 cents, or 1.1 percent, to settle at 78.30 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery increased 87 cents, or 1.1 percent, to close at 81.95 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
On Wednesday, the U.S. crude benchmark and Brent fell 1.9 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, after data showed a larger-than-expected increase in U.S. crude stocks.
U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 2.3 million barrels during the week ending Oct. 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday. That was above the average 200,000 barrel increase expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.
According to the EIA, total motor gasoline inventories went up by 3.3 million barrels last week, while distillate fuel inventories decreased by 0.4 million barrels.
Earlier this week, oil prices hit their multi-year highs after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, decided to step up its oil production only gradually.
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