U. S. crude futures were up in choppy trading Thursday afternoon as traders weighed a weaker dollar against mixed weekly government petroleum inventory data which showed a decline in crude inventory and a build in gasoline and distillates inventories.

China's crude oil imports in August surged about 25 percent to a near record high of 19.6 million tonnes or around 4.6 million barrels per day, Reuters calculations based on official customs data showed on Friday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Vienna, meanwhile, said it saw no need to change output formally, although some members called for stricter compliance on existing curbs.

The EIA said that domestic crude inventories fell 5.9 million barrels last week, to 337.5 million barrels, more than the forecast in a poll for a 1.5 million barrel draw down, but less than the 7.2 million barrel decline in the American Petroleum Institute's data issued Tuesday.

Gasoline stocks rose 2.1 million barrels to 207.2 million barrels, against the forecast for a 1.3 million barrel draw down, but dwarfed the API's build of 571,000 barrels. Refinery utilization was unchanged at 87.2 percent of capacity against the forecast for a 0.3 percentage point dip.

Crude oil may witness further upside in today’s session after the optimism induced by a huge fall in crude inventories. Weaker dollar and WTI trading at a premium to Brent are likely to support the upside.