Oil rose back to $76 a barrel on Thursday, with concerns over gasoline supplies and a drop in crude stocks in the United States helping it partly recoup the previous session's losses.
London Brent crude, seen as the best indicator of the global market, was up 56 cents at $76.00 a barrel by 0952 GMT, after sliding 96 cents on Wednesday.
Wednesday's fall followed 10 straight days of gains during which oil rose $6 to hit a new 11-month high, bringing it within striking distance of its record.
U.S. crude rose 37 cents to $72.93 after falling 25 cents a day earlier.
Investors and analysts have cited speculative buying by hedge funds and pension funds as a key driver of the latest oil rally, underpinned by bullish fundamental factors.
"The strong price rally in recent weeks has been firmly grounded in near and longer-term fundamentals," Goldman Sachs said in a research note.
"These tightening fundamentals have led investor length across the hydrocarbon complex to exceed the high levels reached last year, but with much more sustainable drivers."
Traders are awaiting the International Energy Agency's monthly report on Friday, expected to give the latest snapshot of global oil demand and stockpiles.
The agency's medium-term oil market report released earlier this week warned that oil demand would rise faster than expected over the next five years while production lags.
U.S. Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday showed a 1.2 million-barrel increase in gasoline inventories there in the week ended July 6, just above analysts' forecasts for a 900,000 barrel-build.
(Reuters, 12/07/2007)