Investing.com - Oil futures rose on Thursday, after shares in China surged amid fresh efforts by the government to calm the market in wake of recent losses.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for August delivery jumped 81 cents, or 1.58%, to trade at $52.47 a barrel during European morning hours.
The Shanghai Composite rallied nearly 6% on Thursday as authorities increased scrutiny of short selling and eased rules for insurers to invest in blue-chips stocks in wake of China’s recent stock plunge.
In addition, regulators banned shareholders with stakes of more than 5% in a company from selling stock over the next six months.
Market players are concerned that the plunge in the stock market could spread to other parts of the Chinese economy, triggering fears that the Asian nation's demand for oil will decline.
China is the world's second largest oil consumer after the U.S. and has been the engine of strengthening demand.
On Tuesday, New York-traded oil prices lost 68 cents, or 1.3%, to end at $51.65 after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. rose unexpectedly last week.
Total crude oil inventories rose by 384,000 barrels last week to 465.8 million, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, compared to expectations for a drop of 700,000 barrels to 464.7 million.
The report also showed that total motor gasoline inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles increased by 1.6 million barrels.
Energy traders have been paying close attention to gasoline stockpiles in recent weeks as the U.S. driving season entered its peak gasoline demand period.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for August delivery advanced 69 cents, or 1.22%, to trade at $57.75 a barrel. A day earlier, London-traded Brent tacked on 20 cents, or 0.35%, to close at $57.05.
The spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $5.28 a barrel, compared to $5.40 by close of trade on Wednesday.
Investors continued to monitor developments surrounding the ongoing Greek debt crisis. Greece requested a new three-year bailout from its euro zone creditors and pledged some economic overhauls on Wednesday.
Whether European leaders accept Greece's request for more emergency loans at a crisis summit on Sunday will depend on whether Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras makes a drastic turnaround on pension cuts, tax increases and other austerity measures after five months of negotiations.
Failure to reach an agreement would increase the likelihood of Greece leaving the single currency union.
Oil traders were also eyeing nuclear talks between the West and Iran, which could push millions of barrels of crude into the oversupplied world market.
Global oil production is outpacing demand following a boom in U.S. shale oil production and after a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last year not to cut production.