Investing.com - Crude oil futures were trading near three-week highs during early European trading hours on Friday, as snow storms in the U.S. boosted demand for heating oil and as upbeat U.S. data added to signs that the country's economic growth is accelerating.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at USD97.65 a barrel during European morning trade, up 0.33%.
The February contract settled up 0.61% on Thursday to end at USD97.32 a barrel.
Oil futures were likely to find support at USD96.42 a barrel, Thursday's low and resistance at USD98.96 a barrel, the high from January 2.
Refiners in Asia, Europe and Russia were reportedly shipping around half a million tons of heating oil and diesel to the U.S. this month, with at least a dozen tankers booked so far in January to ship gasoil and diesel to the U.S. East Coast.
Oil prices rose on Thursday after the U.S. Department of Labor said that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 18 increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 326,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 325,000.
Separately, Markit said that its preliminary U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers’ index declined to a seasonally adjusted 54.3 this month from a final reading of 55.0 in December.
Gains were capped however after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 1.0 million barrels in the week ended January 17, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.6 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 351.2 million barrels as of last week.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for March delivery added 0.15% to trade at USD107.75 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD10.10 a barrel.