London: Oil climbed towards $82 a barrel on Tuesday, rising for the ninth straight session, as cold weather in key consumers the United States and Europe boosted demand for heating fuel.
Investors were awaiting US oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Information Administration, expected to show a drop in distillate stocks but steady crude inventories.
Crude for February
US crude for February delivery was up 31 cents at $81.82 a barrel by 1411 GMT, off an earlier high of $81.99, a cent below the October 2009 high. London Brent crude climbed 36 cents to $80.48.
"The extreme cold weather is supportive today," said Rob Montefusco, oil trader at Sucden Financial. "The [inventory] data will give us more direction, there should be a draw in crude and distillates," Montefusco added.
US crude futures would reach the highest point since October 14 2008, if they push above $82 and some analysts said it was the anticipation that prices would rise above this psychological point that had boosted oil recently.
"The price rise is not supported by fundamentals, it is investment driven," Eugen Weinberg, oil analyst at Commerzbank, said.
