The WTI crude benchmark also began to rally early afternoon, peaking at $34.42 per barrel by 14:20 GMT and slipping to $33.49 per barrel by 16:15 GMT. Brent and WTI both rose by over 3 percent, peaking at six and five percent respectively against Wednesday in a third straight day of trading in the green.
Brent April and March 2016 futures were also up, almost reaching $37 per barrel at 14:00 GMT before falling slightly to around $35 per barrel by late afternoon. Both futures traded at over 3 percent above Wednesday.
Rebounding oil prices come after days of news of a possible OPEC meeting with non-cartel oil producing states on the issue of stemming the months-long crude price slump. On Thursday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia was ready to take part in an OPEC meeting together with other non-cartel countries.
On Wednesday, Head of Russia's Transneft energy company Nikolay Tokarev stated that Saudi Arabia had proposed holding a meeting on the state on global oil market. According to Tokarev, OPEC is likely to hold the meeting in February, with oil production decrease on the agenda.
Market prices for crude benchmarks dropped to a 12-year low in mid-January, sliding below the historic level of $30 a barrel before starting to recover after January 20.
