Investing.com - Crude futures rose on Wednesday for the first time in eight days, with U.S. oil pulling further away from the widely watched $30-per-barrel level breached the previous session, as Chinese data showed record imports in December.
U.S. crude was up 2.28% at $31.14 a barrel at 12.13 GMT. On Tuesday, it fell to a low of $29.93, which was last seen in December 2003.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 1.55% to $31.43 a barrel. The contract bottomed at $30.34 on Tuesday.
The $30 mark is both a psychological and financial threshold.
Chinese crude imports rose to a record 7.82 million barrels in December, up more than 21% from November, official data showed on Wednesday.
Separately, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed that U.S. crude stocks fell by 3.9 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.5 million barrels.
But the bearish outlook for oil remains after the U.S. government forecast on Tuesday that the global glut will swell until late 2017.