Forexpros - Crude oil futures advanced during U.S. morning trade Friday, following Thursday's upbeat comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi as investors await U.S. GDP data later in the session. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at USD89.75 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, climbing 0.38%. Oil sentiment found support after ECB President Draghi said on Thursday that the bank will do whatever is necessary to preserve the euro. In a speech in London, Draghi appeared to indicate that the ECB would be prepared to intervene to lower Spanish and Italian bond yields, saying that government borrowing costs would fall within the central bank’s mandate if they interfered with the 'transmission' of monetary policy. However, Germany’s Bundesbank has expressed concerns that the restarting of the ECB’s bond repurchase program is not the ideal way to handle the region’s debt crisis dampening commodity sentiment. Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure as investors were eyeing data on second quarter U.S. gross domestic product, as a string of mixed economic reports on Thursday sparked fresh expectations for further easing measures by the Federal Reserve. Economists are expecting the U.S. GDP to have slowed to an annual rate of 1.4% in the second quarter, from 1.9% in the previous three months. The greenback traded lower against most of its counterparts with the U.S. dollar index off by 0.07% to 82.83. Dollar-denominated oil futures contracts tend to rise when the dollar falls, as this makes oil cheaper for buyers in other currencies. In addition, the U.S. is the world’s biggest oil-consuming country, responsible for almost 22% of global oil demand. Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for September delivery rose 0.66% to trade at USD105.96 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD16.10.

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