Oil rose for a third day in New York after Greece completed its debt swap, easing Europe’s debt crisis. The U.S. is forecast to show improvement in its labor market, spurring more demand for fuel. Futures climbed as much as 0.7 percent and are poised for the fourth weekly gain in five. Greece’s government said almost 96 percent of investors holding its sovereign debt agreed to swap for securities. The U.S. probably added 210,000 jobs in February, according to a Bloomberg survey before a report today. Oil has increased this year on concern sanctions against Iran will lead to military conflict in the Middle East, where more than half the world’s crude reserves are located. “We had a lift in oil on the back of expectations that Greece will come through,� said Jonathan Barratt, chief executive of Barratt’s Bulletin, a commodity markets newsletter in Sydney. “The Middle Eastern premium is still there but the market seems to be tracking sideways.� Oil for April delivery advanced as much as 74 cents to $107.32 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $107.04 at 2:25 p.m. Singapore time. The contract yesterday rose 0.4 percent to $106.58, the highest settlement since March 5. Prices are up 0.4 percent this week and 8.4 percent so far this year. Brent oil for April settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange was up as much as 42 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $125.86. The European benchmark contract was at an $18.44 premium to New York-traded West Texas Intermediate grade. The spread was $18.86 yesterday, the widest since Feb. 6. U.S. Jobs Today is the three-year anniversary of the beginning of a global bull market for stocks that began after the U.S. housing crisis in 2008. Oil prices closed at $47.07 a barrel on March 9, 2009 in New York, capping a 39 percent rally from Dec. 19, 2008, crude’s low during the financial crisis. The Labor Department is forecast today to report the strongest three-month stretch of job growth in almost a year in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of crude. Unemployment probably held at a three-year low of 8.3 percent, according to the Bloomberg News survey. Sovereign Debt Greece’s bonds swap was the biggest sovereign-debt restructuring in history. Bondholders tendered 152 billion euros of Greek-law bonds, or 85.8 percent, after the government offered to swap their holdings. The 27 member states of the European Union accounted for 16 percent of global oil demand last year, according to BP Plc (BP/)’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will reduce crude exports by 0.6 percent this month as seasonal refinery maintenance in Asia erodes demand, according to tanker- tracker Oil Movements. OPEC, which pumps about a third of the world’s crude, will ship 23.3 million barrels a day in the four weeks to March 24, the researcher in Halifax, England, said yesterday. Its estimate excludes Angola and Ecuador. Oil may decline in New York next week as negotiations between nuclear powers and Iran reduce tension, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Fourteen of 28 analysts and traders, or 50 percent, forecast futures will fall through March 16. Ten respondents, or 36 percent, predicted prices will rise and four estimated there will be little change. Iran Tension Nuclear powers want sustained discussions with Iran and for the Persian Gulf nation to let United Nations inspectors into its secret Parchin military installation, the UN’s five permanent Security Council members plus Germany said in a statement yesterday in Vienna. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said comments by U.S. President Barack Obama that there is room for diplomacy in the international community’s standoff with the nation are “good words,� according to Iranian state television. Obama told reporters at the White House March 7 that there is a “window of opportunity where this can still be resolved diplomatically.� To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski in Singapore at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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