Oil prices held above $60 a barrel in Asian trade today on signs of rising energy demand in the United States, a key growth engine for the world economy.
In morning trade, New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, was up 49 cents to $61.54 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for July delivery advanced 52 cents to $60.45.
"The market is sort of following the pattern over the last few weeks... The bullish sign is that we've seen two consecutive weeks of falling inventories in the US," said Tony Nunan, an energy risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.
Data released Wednesday showed that crude reserves in the world's largest energy consumer tumbled by 2.1 million barrels in the week ending May 15, far more than market expectations for a 700,000 barrel drop.
The fall in inventories indicated that energy demand was holding firm despite a deep recession in the United States, the world's biggest economy and the largest oil consumer.
However, analysts warned that current price levels were not in line with the weak global economic conditions.
