Oil Futures Climb on Persistent Middle East Concerns

Oil futures climbed in Asian trading on Wednesday following marginal gains in the overnight session as a late buying surge pared losses.

--November Nymex light, sweet crude oil on the New York Mercantile exchange was recently up 0.5% at $52.15 a barrel in the Globex trading session. December Brent was up 0.7% at $58.31.

--Persistent concerns over the tense Middle East situation remains in focus. While Iraq has said Kirkuk oil fields siezed from Kurdish forces are running normally, investors are worried about possible supply disruptions. Meanwhile, Iran has said it does not expect to see any impact on oil exports from President Donald Trump's refusal to certify the nuclear deal.

--Investors are also awaiting an oil inventory report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Estimates from 10 analysts and traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal showed that U.S. oil inventories are projected to have fallen by 3.2 million barrels, on average, in the week ended Oct. 13.

Write to Biman Mukherji at biman.mukherji@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2017 00:30 ET (04:30 GMT)