Oil futures drifted higher in morning trading Thursday, as market chatter grew about whether pricey crude is headed for a correction.

There was little in the way of headlines to drive the market, and oil prices remained in the narrow range where they have largely been stuck for several sessions. Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 55 cents, or 0.5%, to $105.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange was down 23 cents, or 0.2%, to $124.74 a barrel.

The rise in oil prices in recent months has been driven by fear of a supply disruption resulting from tensions between Iran and the West, and oil's relationship to supply-and-demand fundamentals has weakened. As prices have risen, demand has dropped and supply has grown, with U.S. crude stocks growing more than expected in the latest government data and inventories at the key Cushing, Okla., delivery point rising 37% in the last two months. While some of that is due to the anticipated re-opening of the Seaway pipeline that will carry crude to the Gulf coast, analysts and brokers increasingly say the market's fundamentals don't support the price.

"Cushing inventories build sharply again and we expect further downward pressure on (West Texas Intermediate) in the short term," Barclays said in a research memo, noting total U.S. oil demand is down 727,000 barrels a day from last year and that the pace of weakness has accelerated since December.

Meanwhile, analysts say the high price of Brent crude has undercut demand internationally, at a time when Europe faces the prospect of recession and China's growth rate shows signs of slowing faster than previously expected. In another recent note, Morgan Stanley said "fundamentals warrant a price correction," though the firm said prices could remain elevated as long as tensions remain high with Iran.

Front-month April reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently fell 1.61 cents to $3.3309 a gallon. April heating oil fell 0.59 cent to $3.2559 a gallon.

-By Christian Berthelsen, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2381; christian.berthelsen@dowjones.com.