Oil prices struggled higher today as traders examined recent mixed global economic data before publication of a widely watched US energy reserves report.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, climbed 51 cents to $82.89 a barrel. London's Brent North Sea crude for May advanced 41 cents to $81.69 a barrel.
Traders will be looking to the weekly report due later this afternoon from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) for further clues on the state of demand in the US, the world's biggest energy consuming market.
Investor sentiment was dulled somewhat by a private report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday that crude stocks in the country rose by 421,000 last week.
Meanwhile, energy producers and consumers were set today to urge improved dialogue on tackling oil price volatility in a joint ministerial declaration to be issued at the end of a key forum in Cancun, Mexico.
OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem El-Badri had said yesterday at the biennial International Energy Forum (IEF) that the declaration would provide 'no commitment' on oil price targets.
El-Badri said that speculators were to blame for pushing crude futures to record high levels nearly two years ago amid oil supply concerns. Oil prices surged to all-time peaks of above $147 a barrel in July 2008, before the severe global economic downturn saw them crashing to just $32.
