By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch)—Crude-oil futures climbed back above $92 a barrel on Thursday, as escalating tensions between Syria and Turkey continued to provide support, while investors awaited supply data later in the day.
Oil futures for November delivery CLX2 +1.07% added 83 cents, or 0.9%, to $92.08 a barrel, reclaiming a portion of a $1.14 loss on Wednesday.
The previous day’s downturn came as both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the U.S. Energy Information Administration cut their global oil demand forecasts. In addition, after the regular oil trading session closed on Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that crude-oil supplies rose 1.65 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 5.
Investors were also waiting for inventory data on Thursday, with the closely watched EIA report due to be released at 11 a.m. Eastern.
Analysts polled by Platts expect a 1.5 million-barrel increase in crude-oil supplies for last week. They also forecast a decline of 400,000 barrels for distillate inventories and no change in gasoline supplies.
A weaker dollar lent support to oil prices during European trading hours. The ICE dollar index DXY -0.38% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, fell to 79.840 from 80.058 in late North America trade the prior day.
A decline in the dollar tends to support oil prices, as the commodity gets cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Continued tension in the Middle East further pushed prices higher, as political instability heightened the risk of supply disruptions. Cross-border artillery and bombardments between Syria and Turkey have over the past week become daily events, raising fears of a war between two countries, media reports said.
The conflict also pushed November Brent crude UK:LCOX2 +0.77% higher, up 92 cents, or 0.8%, to $114.10 a barrel.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, gasoline for November delivery RBX2 -0.16% slipped 0.1% to $2.96 a gallon, while heating oil for the same month HOX2 +0.84% gained 0.9% to $3.24 a gallon.
November natural gas NGX12 +0.17% added 0.3% to $3.48 per million British thermal units.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter, based in London.
