By Huileng Tan Oil futures are higher in Asian trading hours following the release of upbeat data from China. Value-added industrial output in China rose 10.0% in November from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday. The data is in line with a similar forecast by 11 economists in a Dow Jones Newswires survey. Although November's growth was slightly lower than October's increase, it added to positive sentiment generated over the weekend when data showed that the world's second-largest economy in November posted its largest trade surplus in nearly five years. Exports rose by a hefty 12.7% from a year earlier, while imports rose 5.3%. "This points to steady growth in China, helping crude-oil prices which are also getting a lift from winter demand," said Kaname Gokon, a deputy general manager in the research section at Tokyo-based brokerage Okato Shoji Co. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $97.72 a barrel at 0607 GMT, up $0.38 in the Globex electronic session. January Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.45 to $109.84 a barrel. The rebound came after Brent crude settled 2.0% lower overnight as data showed that industrial production in Germany dropped 1.2% in October, below expectations of an increase of 0.8%. Nymex crude settled 0.3% lower due to profit-taking after six straight sessions of strong gains. "Prices may have slipped further if not for China's export figures released over the weekend," ANZ Research said in a note early Tuesday. On the demand side, China imported 23.56 million metric tons of crude oil in November, equivalent to 5.76 million barrels a day, preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs showed Sunday. Imports were 0.7% higher than the 23.4 million tons of crude shipped in the corresponding month last year, and up around 15% from 20.4 million tons in October, according to a Wall Street Journal calculation. Commerzbank said in a note late Monday that even though China remains a key driver of global oil demand, the oil market nonetheless continues "to exhibit a high oversupply." Though crude-oil stockpiles fell by 5.6 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 29, inventories are still at their highest end-November level since 1930, according to the Energy Information Administration. U.S. oil production has surged to record highs as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques have enabled energy producers to access previously unreachable supplies. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for January--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 103 points to $2.6852 a gallon, while January heating oil traded at $3.0244, 101 points higher.

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