Oil closed at its highest in more than two years in London, nearing $60 a barrel, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman backed the extension of OPEC output cuts.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 8 cents at $58.41 a barrel by 0646 GMT, after settling on Tuesday up 96 cents, or 1.7 percent. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading down 9 cents at $52.38.

Futures edged higher from the settlement in after-market trading in New York, prompted by reports that data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a 5.75 million barrel drop in gasoline last week and 4.95 million fewer barrels of distillate. Meanwhile, OPEC, set to meet next month on prolonging the cuts, are said to be planning how to prevent a new price-killing glut once they end.

"They [big OPEC and Middle Eastern producers] cannot be too ambitious [on their oil price targets]...there's not much [upside] room for them to hope for," Sadamori said. "Once the oil price goes to certain levels, this will stimulate new drilling and investments in North America," he added.

The S&P/ASX 200 Energy index added 0.7 per cent, with Beach Energy – the recent buyer of Origin Energy’s conventional oil and gas business assets – up 2.8 per cent, Origin up 1.1 per cent and Caltex Australia up 1 per cent.

Brent crude futures were at $57.87 at 0622 GMT, up 12 cents, or 0.21 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $52.04 per barrel, up 20 cents, or 0.39 percent.

Total petroleum deliveries increased 2.4 percent from September 2016. These September deliveries were the highest September deliveries in a decade. For the third quarter 2017, total petroleum deliveries, a measure of U.S. petroleum demand, increased 2.1 percent from the same period last year to nearly 20.4 million barrels per day. For year to date 2017, total domestic petroleum deliveries increased 1.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

Libya’s oil production increased steeply to the current level of 850,000 b/d from a low point in August 2016 of below 300,000 b/d. Production surpassed 1 million b/d in July.

U.S. Rig Count is up 360 rigs from last year's count of 553, with oil rigs up 293, gas rigs up 69, and miscellaneous rigs down 2 to 2. Canada Rig Count is up 59 rigs from last year's count of 143, with oil rigs up 38 and gas rigs up 21.

Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $57.45 at 0639 GMT, up 22 cents, or 0.4 percent from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $51.54 per barrel, up 25 cents, or 0.5 percent.