By Surabhi Sahu Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures rose Thursday amid optimism ahead of a euro-zone finance ministers' meeting in Brussels scheduled late in the global day to discuss the second massive bailout for Greece, with market participants hopeful that a deal may be close. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $99.16 a barrel at 0745 GMT, up $0.45 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.30 to $117.50 a barrel. "We're keeping a close watch on developments in Europe. A deal may come through within a week," a Tokyo-based trading executive said. Crude also received support from a U.S. Department of Energy report late Wednesday that showed the country's stockpiles for the week ended Feb. 3 rose only about 300,000 barrels, much less than industry expectations, trading executives said. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast an increase of 2.7 million barrels. "We are viewing the macro conditions as ripe for renewed oil strengthening, with WTI possibly lifting up to around the $101 area in the next 2-3 sessions," Jim Ritterbusch at Ritterbusch & Associates said in a note. Brent could push towards $120 a barrel in the coming sessions due to political tension in Nigeria and stronger prospects of supply cuts by Iran, Phillip Futures commodities analyst Ker Chung Yang said. Iran's ambassador to Moscow said Wednesday that the country was capable of carrying out military strikes on U.S. interests worldwide if the U.S. attacks it. "The situation surrounding the country [Iran] remains elevated, with the risk of miscalculation resulting in a messy endgame," Barclays Capital said in a note. Freezing weather in Europe will also likely support heating oil and crude prices, some analysts said. Temperatures in Germany were 3 degrees Celsius above the seasonal average until late January, but have fallen 8 degrees-10 degrees below in the last 10 days and forecasts point to temperatures remaining 4 degrees below average next week, J.P. Morgan said in a research note. A similar trend in the rest of the continent too has increased heating-related demand, it said. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for March--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 118 points to $2.9870 a gallon, while March heating oil traded at $3.1948, 53 points higher. ICE gasoil for February changed hands at $996.75 a metric ton, up $5.75 from Wednesday's settlement. -By Surabhi Sahu, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 6415 4086; surabhi.sahu@dowjones.com

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