WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices are higher Friday morning, bouncing back after yesterday's over 4 percent plunge.
Although Wednesday's report from the U.S. Energy Administration showed a drop in crude inventories last week, worries about excess supply continue to weigh on oil.
Crude oil futures for January delivery are up $0.94 or 1.74 percent at $55.05 a barrel, still near yesterday's 5-1/2 year lows.
On Thursday, crude oil futures ended down $2.36 or 4.2 percent at $54.11 a barrel, after scaling a high of $58.73 earlier in the day.
Renewed worries about oversupply situation and demand growth concerns hurt oil. Short-covering and an upbeat jobless claims report supported oil early on, but the rally fizzled out as the day progressed.
Meanwhile, natural gas for January is down $0.030 or 0.88 percent at $3.610 per million btu.
At 11 am ET, Kansas City Federal Reserve will release its manufacturing index for the region at 11 am ET. Economists expect the manufacturing index to rise to 8 from 7 in the previous month.
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