Oil climbed for a third day in New York as a U.S. government report showed refineries processed more crude last week and Greece moved closer to securing a second bailout. Futures gained as much as 0.4 percent and headed for the longest rising streak since December. U.S. refineries operated at 83 percent of capacity, up 1 percentage point from the week before, according to the Energy Department. Analysts projected a 0.4 percentage point decrease. Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said he concluded meetings with leaders from three political parties in Greece to seal terms for the financing package, an official who declined to be named told reporters today. “Demand, particularly in the U.S., is still there,� said Jonathan Barratt, chief executive of Barratt’s Bulletin, a commodity markets newsletter in Sydney. Crude for March delivery rose as much as 43 cents to $99.14 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was at $99.11 at 2:15 p.m. Singapore time. It increased 0.3 percent yesterday to $98.71, the highest since Jan. 30. Prices are 14 percent higher the past year. Brent oil for March settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange increased as much as 50 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $117.70 a barrel. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $18.51 to New York-traded West Texas Intermediate grade. The spread was a record $27.88 on Oct. 14. Oil Stockpiles U.S. crude inventories rose by 304,000 barrels to 339.2 million in the week ended Feb. 3, according to the Energy Department. A median gain of 2.5 million barrel was forecast by analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. Imports fell 5.3 percent. Gasoline surged to the highest price in more than five months on speculation refinery shutdowns in Europe and the U.S. will trigger a supply crunch. Gasoline for March delivery in New York climbed 0.5 percent to $2.9888 a gallon today. It rose 4.77 cents to $2.9752 a gallon yesterday, the highest settlement since Aug. 31. Imports of the motor fuel dropped 32 percent last week, the Energy Department said. Stockpiles rose 1.6 million barrels, more than a projected 875,000 barrel gain. Distillate-fuel inventories, including heating oil and diesel, increased 1.2 million barrels, compared with a forecast for an 875,000 barrel decline. Greek Debt Greece’s government is struggling to arrange financing to meet a 14.5 billion-euro ($19.2 billion) bond payment on March 20, risking a collapse of the economy and a new round of contagion in the euro area. Political leaders have agreed on all the measures needed for a second international aid package except cuts to pensions, Panos Beglitis, a spokesman for the Pasok socialist party, told reporters in Athens. The 27 member states of the European Union accounted for 16 percent of global oil demand last year, according to BP Plc’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy. Oil may extend its rally in New York as futures approach a “golden cross� formation on the daily technical chart, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 100-day moving average, at $94.43 a barrel today, has pared a discount to the 200-day mean to 24 cents, the smallest since mid-September. Investors tend to buy contracts when a shorter-term moving average rises above a longer-term one. To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net; Yee Kai Pin in Singapore at kyee13@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski in Singapore at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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