U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday suggested interest rates could be kept on hold this month and the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill suspending the government's debt ceiling, improving the chance of averting a disastrous default.
"Oil markets may have been oversold in the last two trading days," said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng.
"Sentiment rebounded amid the debt bill's passage in the House and (the) Fed's rate hike pause signal."
Mixed demand indications from China, the world's biggest oil importer, have nonetheless weighed on the market, as has industry data showing a rise in U.S. crude inventories.
Market sources citing American Petroleum Institute (API) figures on Wednesday said that U.S. crude inventories rose by about 5.2 million barrels last week.
Persons:
Tina Teng, Tamas Varga, Alex Lawler, Rowena Edwards, Arathy Somasekhar, Andrew Hayley, David Goodman
Organizations:
Representatives U.S, U.S . Federal, U.S . House, Brent, West Texas, American Petroleum Institute, of, Petroleum, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
China, OPEC, Russia, London, Houston, Beijing