LONDON - World oil prices rose on Tuesday as dealers began positioning for the release of keenly-awaited data on US inventories of crude oil.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rose 65 cents to 51.02 dollars per barrel in electronic deals.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in June climbed by 72 cents to 51.50 dollars per barrel.
"The market is now going to be looking towards tomorrow's (Wednesday's) US inventory figures after the data out last week showed that US crude inventories rose for the ninth week in a row while gasoline stocks rose 800,000 barrels per day despite a drop in refinery utilisation," analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm said.
Analysts are forecasting a further rise in crude stockpiles, alongside a fall in gasoline inventories.
Gasoline, or petrol, supplies are scrutinised closely ahead of the US summer driving season that begins next month, when Americans take to the roads for their holidays.
Oil prices have slumped since New York's main contract hit a historic high point of 58.28 dollars on April 4, the same day Brent crude rocketed to a record 57.65 dollars on fears about possible supply shortages.
Prices had ended lower on Monday after briefly dropping below 50 dollars in New York, amidst signals from OPEC that it would increase crude output next month.
"There seems to be pretty good demand when prices moved below 50 dollars a barrel," said David Thurtell, a commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
OPEC president Sheikh Ahmed Fahd al-Sabah said on Monday that there would be an increase in production in May, a move that would be dictated by growth in third-quarter demand.
OPEC ministers raised output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 27.5 million barrels when they met last month in the Iranian city of Isfahan.
Members authorized also the cartel's chief to call for another similar increase if needed.
"An increase in production by OPEC of another 500,000 bpd will take OPEC production back above 30 million bpd for the first time in six months, near 25-year highs hit last year as producers struggled to meet rising consumption," Sucden analysts said.
04/19/2005 11:38 GMT