Oil rose from a six-month low

West Texas Intermediate crude rose from a six-month low after an Energy Information Administration report showed declines in U.S. inventories of crude oil, gasoline and distillates.

The EIA said crude supplies decreased 1.76 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 1. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a drop of 1.55 million. Gasoline inventories fell 4.39 million barrels to 213.8 million and distillates dropped 1.8 million to 124.9 million. Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI futures, rose 83,000 barrels to 18 million.

"The market is trying to stabilize after reaching a multimonth low," said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "The selling pressure has run its course."

WTI for September delivery gained 68 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $98.06 a barrel at 10:35 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped to $97.38 yesterday, the lowest close since Feb. 5. The volume of all futures traded was about 32 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day.

Brent for September settlement rose 78 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $105.39 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It closed at $104.61 a barrel yesterday, the lowest since Nov. 7. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $7.33 to WTI on the ICE. It closed at $7.23 yesterday.