NEW YORK, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices climbed on Thursday, amid a slide in the U.S. dollar.

       The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery added 2.62 U.S. dollars, or 2.4 percent, to settle at 112.21 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for July delivery increased 2.93 dollars, or 2.7 percent, to close at 112.04 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

       Prices found some support from a weaker dollar.

       The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 1.05 percent to 102.7240 in late trading on Thursday. Historically, the price of oil is inversely related to the price of the U.S. dollar.

       Also lending buoyancy to prices was market optimism that China would see a solid recovery in fuel demand.

       Meanwhile, latest data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude stockpiles.

       The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday that the nation's crude inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels in the week ending May 13. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insights had expected the EIA publications to show a 2.1 million barrel rise in oil inventories.