Investing.com – Crude oil futures regained strength on Thursday, as concerns over a disruption to oil supplies from key producers Iran and Nigeria supported prices ahead of the European Central Bank’s rate decision and a Spanish debt auction later in the day.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at USD101.42 a barrel during European morning trade, climbing 0.55%.
It earlier rose by as much as 0.75% to trade at a daily high of USD101.67 a barrel.
Oil traders continued to monitor tensions between Iran and the West after Japan's finance minister Jun Azumi said earlier that Japan was to steadily reduce oil imports from Iran in support of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
The comments came after a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Tokyo earlier in the day.
Washington imposed additional sanctions on Iran last month and the European Union will hold a meeting on January 23 to decide on whether to embargo Iran's oil.
Oil prices found further support after Nigeria's biggest oil union, Pengassan, said it was ready to halt oil output if the government did not reinstate a fuel subsidy.
Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer, pumping nearly 5% of the world's oil in 2010, while Nigeria produces approximately 2.0 million barrels of oil per day, making it Africa’s largest oil producer.
Meanwhile, markets were looking forward to the European Central Bank’s policy meeting later Thursday. The ECB was expected to keep rates unchanged at 1% and to reiterate that governments in the euro zone must step up efforts to tackle the region’s debt crisis.
Investors also eyed government debt sales from Spain and Italy later in the day, in what was being viewed as a critical test of investor’s appetite for euro zone sovereign debt.
Spain was due to sell up to EUR5 billion of government bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016 a day before Italy’s Treasury planned to auction EUR4.75 billion of five-year bonds.
Euro zone developments have dominated trading in the oil market for the last several months, amid worries that the sovereign debt crisis could trigger a broader economic slowdown that would curb demand for oil.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for February delivery rose 0.82% to trade at USD113.16 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD11.74 a barrel.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at USD101.42 a barrel during European morning trade, climbing 0.55%.
It earlier rose by as much as 0.75% to trade at a daily high of USD101.67 a barrel.
Oil traders continued to monitor tensions between Iran and the West after Japan's finance minister Jun Azumi said earlier that Japan was to steadily reduce oil imports from Iran in support of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
The comments came after a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Tokyo earlier in the day.
Washington imposed additional sanctions on Iran last month and the European Union will hold a meeting on January 23 to decide on whether to embargo Iran's oil.
Oil prices found further support after Nigeria's biggest oil union, Pengassan, said it was ready to halt oil output if the government did not reinstate a fuel subsidy.
Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer, pumping nearly 5% of the world's oil in 2010, while Nigeria produces approximately 2.0 million barrels of oil per day, making it Africa’s largest oil producer.
Meanwhile, markets were looking forward to the European Central Bank’s policy meeting later Thursday. The ECB was expected to keep rates unchanged at 1% and to reiterate that governments in the euro zone must step up efforts to tackle the region’s debt crisis.
Investors also eyed government debt sales from Spain and Italy later in the day, in what was being viewed as a critical test of investor’s appetite for euro zone sovereign debt.
Spain was due to sell up to EUR5 billion of government bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016 a day before Italy’s Treasury planned to auction EUR4.75 billion of five-year bonds.
Euro zone developments have dominated trading in the oil market for the last several months, amid worries that the sovereign debt crisis could trigger a broader economic slowdown that would curb demand for oil.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for February delivery rose 0.82% to trade at USD113.16 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD11.74 a barrel.