Oil prices held above $63 this morning ahead of data expected to show a fall in crude stocks in top world consumer the United States after dense fog disrupted imports.
US crude for February delivery traded at $63.39 a barrel, up 24 cents from the January contract expiry of $63.15 on Tuesday. London Brent February crude fell 6 cents to $62.75.
"The market will be dependent on US government data and it's possible to test $64," said Ken Hasegawa at Himawari CX in Tokyo.
Delays to US oil imports due to dense fog along the Gulf of Mexico coast forced refiners to draw on inventories last week.
The fog has interrupted shipping along the Houston Ship Channel for the last six days. The waterway feeds plants with 12 per cent of US refinery capacity.
Mild weather was expected to last in most of the United States until at least early January, continuing a warm spell that has cut into heating demand, forecasters said this week.
The import delays on the US Gulf Coast come just as OPEC production cuts started to affect shipments to the United States.
OPEC agreed to cut crude production by 1.2 million barrels per day from November and a further 500,000 bpd from February.
US oil inventories were running about 4 per cent higher than a year ago, according to last week's government data. In the world's third largest oil consumer Japan, industry data on Wednesday showed crude and kerosene heating stocks both fell.