Oil higher in Asia

SINGAPORE: Oil rose in Asian trade on Thursday ahead of the release of a report on US energy stockpiles expected to show a fall in heating oil stocks, dealers said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, gained 60 cents to 44.15 dollars.

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery added 33 cents to 45.35 dollars a barrel.

Analysts said United States crude oil stockpiles likely rose while heating stocks probably dropped because of a recent cold wave in the country's northeast.

"It will help to limit oil inventories' rise, as world demand is seen falling for the second year," said Thierry Lefrancois of French investment bank Natixis.

The US government was releasing its weekly energy report on Thursday, a day later than usual because of Monday's public holiday in the US.

Some analysts tipped crude oil stocks in the world's biggest energy consumer to have risen by 1.4 million barrels last week while distillate stocks, including heating oil, were forecast to be down by 1.4 million barrels because of the cold wave with gasoline stocks up by 2.1 million barrels.

Oil prices are also getting some support from earlier OPEC production cuts, whose impact is starting to filter through to the marketplace, analysts said.

"Oil markets are continuing to balance concerns about weakness in oil consumption against the impacts of OPEC's production cuts," said David Moore, a Sydney-based commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

World oil prices have plummeted by about 100 dollars since July in a worsening global economic slowdown that has dented demand.