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LONDON: Global oil prices rose on Thursday after US inventory data showed falling crude supplies, while a severe North American winter provided strong support for energy demand.
New York's main contract West Texas Intermediate for February delivery added 38 cents to $92.71 a barrel.
Brent North crude gained 64 cents to stand at $107.79 a barrel in early afternoon London deals.
The US government's Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that crude reserves sank by 2.7 million barrels, much bigger than the 600,000 forecast.
However, gasoline or petrol stockpiles rose by 6.2 million barrels, well above the 2.0 million consensus estimate of analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal.
Tan Chee Tat, investment analyst at Phillip Futures, believes that the supply glut in gasoline "will not have too much of an impact towards market sentiments".
The Singapore-based analyst told AFP: "It is normal during (the) winter season for gasoline demand to fall whereas crude oil demand rises."
He said: "Heating oil demand is likely to scale higher because of the cold snap in the US and this is likely to lead to higher demand for crude oil."
US stockpile levels are keenly monitored by investors as they are an indicator of demand in the world's biggest economy and the biggest oil consuming nation.
But oil prices are likely to continue to face downward pressure with Libyan output up to 546,000 barrels a day from 250,000 barrels a day previously.
Despite the increase in output, analysts do not expect Libya to be able to return to its previous output of 1.4 million barrels soon after two oil tankers were stopped on Sunday by Libya's navy ships from entering the Al-Sedra port in Cyrenaica.
On Wednesday, representatives of the self-declared Cyrenaica regional government undertook to resume oil exports, escalating a conflict with the navy.
The Libyan economy has been badly hit by the disruption to its key oil and gas sector, which accounts for the vast majority of hard currency receipts and government revenues.
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