On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at $46.20 a barrel at 0122 GMT, down $0.15 in the Globex electronic session, the lowest intraday level since Aug 12. October Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.02 to $48.35 a barrel.

“There are no easy buttons to push. It’s not simply about the oil price, the Paris Agreement or the still incomplete single market. It’s about the interdependencies and how these factors amplify each other. At the end of the day, economic as well as social and ecological interests must be in balance with supply security in Europe.”

China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has reported a 21.6% drop in net profit for the six months that ended on June 30 as international oil and natural gas prices remained low.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $49.38 per barrel at 0505 GMT, up 12 cents from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 17 cents at $47.15 a barrel.

With oil prices down by more than half since the price collapse two years ago, drillers have cut their exploration budgets to the bone. The result: Just 2.7 billion barrels of new supply was discovered in 2015, the smallest amount since 1947. This year, drillers found just 736 million barrels of conventional crude as of the end of last month.

The decline is a result of a combination of simpler development concepts and more efficient drilling. Lower prices for work and equipment are also a contributing factor.

Profit attributable to the owners of PJSC Gazprom for the six months ended June 30, 2016 totaled RUB 607,160 million which is RUB 68,744 million, or 10% less than for the same period of the prior year.

Russia's No.2 oil producer Lukoil (LKOH.MM) second-quarter net profit dipped 2 percent, as a weaker rouble helped offset a 30 percent fall in crude prices that has gouged the earnings of many of its peers.

U.S. Rig Count is down 388 rigs from last year's count of 877, with oil rigs down 269, gas rigs down 121, and miscellaneous rigs up 2. Canadian Rig Count is down 50 rigs from last year's count of 196, with oil rigs down 4, and gas rigs down 46.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery settled up 56 cents, or 1.2%, to $47.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its ninth winning session in the past 11. Brent, the global benchmark, gained 62 cents, or 1.3%, to $49.67 a barrel.

The sector, which accounts for 20 percent of the Nordic country's economy, has been slashing jobs, costs and projects to cope with a 60 percent fall in oil prices since June 2014.

China National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd. posted a net loss of ¥7.74 billion for the first 6 months of 2016 against a profit of ¥14.73 billion a year earlier.

Bulgaria’s prime minister Boyko Borisov proposed the gas hub, to be built near the city of Varna, days after Russia scrapped the Gazprom-led South Stream pipeline project over objections from the EC, suggesting a different idea of what a hub is from the conventional, virtual trading point such as the Dutch title transfer facility.

International benchmark Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading down 10 cents at $48.85 per barrel at 0709 GMT, having closed down 1.8 percent the previous day. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $46.73 a barrel, down 4 cents, after dropping 2.8 percent on Wednesday.

U.S. production is a clear factor in lower global crude prices, which has translated into lower energy costs for individual Americans and families. Year-over-year U.S. gasoline prices have declined by almost 50 cents per gallon, due in large part to the decline in the price of crude oil.