NEW YORK (AFP) — Oil prices jumped above 95 dollars on Thursday amid economic data from the US and Japan slightly above expectations and a smaller-than-expected rise in American energy stockpiles.
Ongoing worries about the row between ExxonMobil and Venezuela also kept the market under pressure, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, jumped 2.19 dollars to close at 95.46 dollars a barrel.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for March delivery advanced 1.77 dollars to settle at 95.09 dollars.
Analysts at AG Edwards said the report of an unexpectedly strong growth surge in Japan -- showing a fourth-quarter expansion pace of 3.7 percent -- highlighted concerns that global growth was not as weak as feared, and that energy demand would continue to grow.
"We received some reassurance that the recent slowdown in the US economy has not leaked into foreign economies," the analysts wrote. "Because Japan's economy is largely export-based, this seemed to bode well for global growth and demand for Japanese goods."
The row between ExxonMobil and Venezuela was "still seen as supportive to the market," said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.
On Wednesday, a New York federal judge had affirmed a freeze on 300 million dollars of assets owned by Venezuela's state oil company following a legal challenge by ExxonMobil, which is the world's biggest oil group.
Venezuela is fighting to overturn the US asset freeze, and other legal actions pursued by ExxonMobil in Britain, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles.
The escalating legal battle relates to ExxonMobil's bid to secure compensation after Venezuela's leftist government nationalized key oil fields in the Orinoco basin, including two ExxonMobil operations.
On Thursday, oil prices were also winning support "on the back of a smaller-than-expected increase in US crude stockpiles," said Kryuchenkov.
The US Department of Energy said Wednesday that crude stockpiles rose 1.1 million barrels to 301.1 million in the week that ended February 8.
The reading was smaller than the gain of 2.38 million barrels forecast by analysts, but was still the fifth weekly increase in a row.
Oil inventory levels in the United States are viewed as a key indicator for the health of the crude market because the country is the world's biggest energy consumer, followed by China.
The oil rally could be short-lived, however, according to the International Energy Agency, which on Wednesday forecast that the world oil market could be set for a lengthy slowdown.
The IEA said it had cut its forecast for world oil demand this year by 200,000 barrels per day in light of weaker global economic prospects.
World oil demand in 2008 was predicted to grow by 1.9 percent instead of the 2.2 percent forecast in July, according to a monthly report from the Paris-based IEA.
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