MW:Oil climbs on API report, fiscal-cliff optimism
By Sara Sjolin
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil for January delivery CLF3 +0.49% rose 40 cents, or 0.5%, to $88.33 a barrel on Wednesday, boosted by hopes that U.S. policy makers will reach a deal in time to avert the fiscal cliff. Data from the American Petroleum Institute released late Tuesday also helped lift oil prices, as the report showed crude-oil supplies fell by 4.1 million barrels last week. The API report came ahead of the more closely watched U.S. Energy Information Administration report due on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Platts expect a 2.3 million-barrel decline in crude-oil supplies. Elsewhere in the energy complex, gasoline for January delivery RBF3 +0.67% climbed 0.7% to $2.71 a gallon, while heating oil for the same month HOF3 +0.89% gained 0.9% to $3.02 a gallon. January natural gas dropped 1.9% to $3.35 per million British thermal units.
