As the bull's take the small window of opportunity, which saw oil giant's Haliburton's share price in New York shoot up by five per cent.
U.S. commercial crude inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels to a total of 468.7 million barrels in the week through Oct. 14, the Energy Information Administration reported.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the EIA to report a crude build of 2.7 million barrels.
Benchmark Brent crude futures were up 89 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $52.57 a barrel by 2:38 p.m. ET (1838 GMT), having earlier risen as high as $53.14.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures settled up $1.31, or 2.6 percent, at $51.60 a barrel, the best settle since July 14, 2015.
They touched $51.93 at the peak of the session, the highest level since July 16, 2015, when WTI hit $52.17.
