Forexpros – Crude oil futures trimmed gains on Wednesday, despite data showing that the U.S. private sector added more jobs than expected last month, while oil traders looked forward to a closely-watched weekly report on U.S. crude supplies as well as developments surrounding Greece’s debt swap deal.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at USD105.03 a barrel during early U.S. morning trade, gaining 0.3%.
It earlier rose by as much as 0.85% to trade at a session high USD105.59 a barrel.
A report by U.S. payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by a seasonally adjusted 216,000 in February, beating expectations for an increase of 205,000.
The previous month’s figure was revised up to a gain of 173,000 from a previously reported increase of 170,000.
Oil traders were also looking forward to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s closely-watched weekly report on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of energy demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The report was expected to show that U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose by 1.5 million barrels last week, while gasoline supplies were forecast to decline by 2.0 million barrels.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said that U.S. crude inventories rose by 4.6 million barrels last week, while gasoline stockpiles fell 2.3 million barrels.
Meanwhile, investors remained wary ahead of Thursday’s deadline for Greece’s private creditors to sign up to a bond swap deal, which is aimed at writing down 53.5% of the country’s EUR177 billion debt.
The Institute of International Finance said earlier that 30 members of its private creditor-investor committee for Greece plan to participate in the swap. They hold EUR81 billion of outstanding debt, or 39.3% of the eligible privately held paper.
A participation rate of more than 75% of creditors is required for Greece to secure a EUR130 billion bailout in order to avoid a default when a bond repayment due on March 20.
Oil prices continued to draw support from concerns over a potential disruption to oil supplies from Iran and worries over its nuclear program.
On Tuesday, six world powers announced that they were ready to restart negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. The six countries include the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, China, and Russia.
But an Iranian parliament speaker warned earlier that dialogue under threat will not bear fruit.
French Foreign Minister Alain Jupee said that he was skeptical renewed talks between the six world powers and Iran would succeed as Tehran was still not sincere in its willingness to negotiate over the future of its nuclear program.
The stand-off between Iran and Western countries has dominated sentiment in the oil market for weeks, raising fears that the escalating row over Tehran’s nuclear program could lead to an oil-export halt, a disruption to shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz or military conflict.
Oil prices were higher during the Asian trading session after China’s trade ministry said the country plans to boost energy imports in 2012.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for April delivery was up 0.6% to trade at 122.69 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD17.66.
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