LONDON: Brent crude rose towards $110 a barrel on Thursday as upbeat data from China and the euro zone kindled hopes for better demand from two of the world's largest energy consumers, and as oil exports from Libya stayed limited by strikes and unrest.
Business activity across the euro zone has picked up this month at a faster pace than expected, surveys showed, led by Germany as it benefited from growing demand for its exports.
Activity in China's manufacturing sector also hit a four-month high as new orders rebounded, data showed. This added to promising reports for July, and raised hopes the world's No.2 economy may be stabilising after a two-year slowdown.
"Data is bullish - a lot better than expected - and the loss of Libyan crude exports is also keeping oil strong," said Carsten Fritsch, oil analyst at Commerzbank.
October Brent crude was up 10 cents at $109.91 a barrel by 1115 GMT. US crude gained 60 cents at $104.45.
The US crude oil benchmark, also known as West Texas Intermediate, traded at a discount to Brent of near $5.50 a barrel after signs US firms were diverting oil to the depleted Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub for the first time in 12 months.
The Brent-WTI spread widened on Wednesday to more than $6 for the first time since June.
The US benchmark will also be pressured if an expected rollback in the US Federal Reserve's economic stimulus next month comes to pass, ANZ analyst Natalie Rampono said.
"We're expecting a 70 percent chance for the Fed to start tapering in September," Rampono said. "That should have a negative impact, in particular, on US crude."
Brent remained supported by political tensions in the Middle East and Africa.
Libya's Marsa al Brega port, which local sources said reopened on Tuesday, may handle oil cargoes in the next few days, a shipping source close to the trade said.
But Libya's oil exports are still close to their lowest since the civil war of 2011, with the largest terminals, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, blocked by protesters for nearly four weeks.
Political crisis in Egypt has also stoked supply worries as the country is home to the Suez Canal and the Sumed pipeline, which together carry around 4.5 million barrels per day of oil between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.
The Egyptian army has said it will guarantee the safety of the canal and pipeline, but any disruption could have a major impact on oil prices.
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