Investing.com - Investing.com - Crude oil futures rose nearly three-week highs on Friday, as still supported by data on Thursday showing that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since late November last week, while U.S. economic fourth quarter growth was revised higher. On the New York Mercantile Exchange,West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil for delivery in May traded at USD101.57 a barrel during European morning trade, up 0.28%. The May contract settled 1.02% higher on Thursday to end at USD101.28 a barrel. Futures were likely to find support at $100.03 a barrel, Thursday's low and resistance at $102.54 a barrel, the high from March 10. Oil futures strengthened on Thursday after official data showed that U.S. gross domestic product was revised up to 2.6% in the final three months of 2013, from a preliminary estimate of 2.4%. Market expectations had been for an upward revision to 2.7%. The report showed that personal spending was revised up to 3.3% from 2.6% initially, the fastest rate of growth in three years. Separately, the Labor Department said the number of people who filed for initial jobless benefits in the U.S. last week declined by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 311,000 from the previous week's revised total of 321,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000. The upbeat data added to hopes that the slowdown in economic activity seen at the start of the year would be temporary. Oil prices also remained supported after the U.S. and the European Union agreed on Wednesday to work together to prepare tougher sanctions against Russia and to make Europe less dependent on Russian gas. President Barack Obama said that Russia's actions had to be condemned and he warned that "the isolation will deepen, sanctions will increase" for Russia Russia is the world's biggest energy producer. Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for May delivery eased 0.07% to trade at USD107.78 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD6.21 a barrel.

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