Oil prices have staged a moderate rebound, a day after their sharpest drop in more than seven months.
Benchmark oil for August delivery rose 54c to $95.68 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract for July settlement sank $2.84, or 2.9%, to $95.40 a barrel on the Nymex yesterday.
The sharp drop was precipitated by weak Chinese manufacturing data and signals that US Federal Reserve is preparing to scale back its stimulus policies.
Analysts said rising crude output combined with the Fed's tapering down of asset purchases later this year have put downward pressure on oil prices.
However Syria's civil war and Iran's pursuit of nuclear projects were risks that had the potential to disrupt energy markets and could cause prices to rise.
"The geopolitical premium must not be forgotten, and may not remain muted for long," said analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Hong in a market commentary.
On Wednesday Fed chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that he was optimistic about the US economy - and that the Fed might start scaling back its massive $85 billion-a-month bond-buying programme this year if conditions continue to improve.
The Fed could end the programme by the middle of next year, Mr Bernanke said. The programme has kept borrowing costs near historic lows for consumers and business.
It has also helped boost the equities and energy markets.
Also weighing on oil prices was a survey showing a slowdown in manufacturing in China. HSBC's preliminary purchasing managers' index fell to a nine-month low of 48.3 in June, down from 49.6 in May.
Numbers below 50 indicate a contraction.
Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, rose 75c to $102.90. Brent plunged $3.97, or 3.7%, to end yesterday at $102.94 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
