Oil extends gains after data shows huge stock draw

U.S. crude stocks surprisingly plunged 12.1 million barrels last week, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed after the market settlement on Wednesday, compared with expectations for an increase of around 200,000 barrels. [API/S]

If official data released from the U.S. government later on Thursday confirms the draw, it would be the largest one-week decline since April 1985.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration is set to release its inventory report at 11 a.m. EDT.

London Brent crude for November delivery LCOc1 was up 74 cents at $48.72 a barrel by 2022 EST, after settling up 72 cents on Wednesday.

NYMEX crude for October delivery CLc1 was up 84 cents at $46.34, after settling up 67 cents on Wednesday.

Japan's economy grew at a 0.7 percent annualized rate in the April-June quarter, revised up from a preliminary reading of a 0.2 percent expansion, Cabinet Office data showed on Thursday.

Oil hit a one-week high on Monday after Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to cooperate on stabilizing the oil market. Prices have since fallen due to uncertainty over a possible deal by producer nations to freeze output, particularly after a meeting in Doha in April ended without such an agreement.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers such as Russia are expected to discuss the issue at informal talks in Algeria on Sept. 26-28.