Crude-oil futures rose in Asian trading hours on Wednesday ahead of a weekly U.S. oil inventory report and after news the U.S. had granted crude-oil-export licenses.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $97.65 a barrel at 0548 GMT--up $0.46 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.23 to $106.01 a barrel.
Nymex WTI crude extended gains while Brent rebounded after settling at its lowest this year in overnight floor trade--narrowing the Brent-WTI spread to around $8.28 a barrel.
U.S. oil stocks rose by 384,000 barrels in the week ended Jan. 31, data from the American Petroleum Institute trade group showed late on Tuesday. The more closely watched data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due later on Wednesday.
U.S. oil stocks likely rose by 2.2 million barrels on average last week, according to 12 analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal. Diesel demand is likely to remain healthy owing to cold weather in the U.S., ANZ said.
Meanwhile, a news report said the U.S. government authorized limited crude-oil exports to Europe in spite of a ban. The Department of Commerce has granted two licenses to export U.S. crude to the United Kingdom since last year and another two to Italy, according to a Reuters news agency report citing data requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
"It looks as though a more material shift in U.S. crude-oil export policy will still be some time off in the future although the licensing of re-exports may advance the dialogue on lifting the ban on exports of U.S. production," Citi Futures energy markets strategist Tim Evans said.
Brent crude has been trading around $106 a barrel after falling overnight on concerns about emerging-market demand.
Most commodity prices including those of oil will struggle this year--primarily because of ample supply, Capital Economics said in a note. Its year-end forecasts for Brent are at $90 a barrel--down from a current $106 a barrel.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for March--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 98 points to $2.6129 a gallon while March heating oil traded at $2.9932--103 points higher.
ICE gasoil for February changed hands at $904.00 a metric ton--down $2.25 from Tuesday's settlement.
