OIL PRICE: ABOVE $58

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG -  Oil prices rose on Wednesday, lifted by a fall in U.S. crude inventories and concerns that tensions in the Middle East could disrupt supplies.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $58.16 at 0643 GMT, up 28 cents, or 0.5 percent from their last close - and almost a third above mid-year levels.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.03 per barrel, up 15 cents, or 0.3 percent, and almost a quarter above mid-June levels.

Trading volumes were limited during Asian hours on Wednesday due to a public holiday in Singapore, Malaysia and parts of India.

However, a technical pattern known as a 'Golden Cross' was approaching in WTI crude oil contracts on Wednesday, in which the 50-day moving average price climbs higher than the 200-day moving average. This is widely seen as a bullish price indicator, and already occurred with Brent futures on Sept. 25.

Traders said that prices were pushed up by a drop in U.S. crude inventories as well as concerns that fighting in Iraq and mounting tensions between the United States and Iran could affect supplies.

U.S. crude inventories fell by 7.1 million barrels in the week to Oct. 13 to 461.4 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said late on Tuesday.

"API data from the U.S. overnight showed a big draw ... If $52.83 in WTI and $59.22 in Brent give way, then oil is stepping into a new and much higher range," said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader.

Official U.S. fuel inventory data is due later on Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration, which Dutch bank ING said would likely also show a stock drawdown.

Adding to a tightening U.S. market, tensions in the Middle East meant that a risk premium was being priced into oil markets.

Iraqi government forces captured the major Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk earlier this week, responding to a Kurdish independence referendum, and there are concerns that fighting could disrupt supplies.

"In the case of Kurdistan, the 500,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Kirkuk oil field cluster is at risk," U.S. bank Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday.

The Iraq crisis adds to a looming dispute between the United States and Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump last week refused to certify Iran's compliance over a nuclear deal, leaving Congress 60 days to decide further action against Tehran.

During the previous round of sanctions against Iran, some 1 million bpd of oil was cut from global markets.

-----

Earlier:

October, 16, 12:25:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $57 AGAIN International Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $57.75 per barrel at 0733 GMT, up 58 cents from the previous close, after trading as high as $58.13. U.S. WTI crude was at $51.95 per barrel, up 50 cents. Earlier in the day, it traded as high as $52.22.

October, 16, 12:20:00 WORLD OIL DEMAND UP BY 1.5 MBD World oil demand growth in 2017 is now expected to increase by 1.5 mb/d, representing an upward revision of around 30 tb/d from last previous report, mainly reflecting recent data showing an improvement in economic activities. Positive revisions were primarily a result of higher-than-expected oil demand from the OECD region and China. In 2018, world oil demand is anticipated to grow by 1.4 mb/d, following an upward adjustment of 30 tb/d over the previous report, due to the improving economic outlook in the world economy, particularly China and Russia.

October, 16, 11:40:00 OPEC EXPECTATION The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia have been cutting oil production this year to bring fuel inventories in industrialized nations back in line with the five-year average.

October, 13, 13:05:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $57 YET U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $51.01 per barrel at 0647 GMT, up 41 cents, or 0.8 percent, from its last settlement. Brent was at $56.58, up 33 cents, or 0.6 percent.

October, 13, 13:00:00 PRICES: OIL $52-54; GAS $3.03-3.19 EIA forecasts Brent spot prices to average $52/b in 2017 and $54/b in 2018, which is $1/b higher in 2017 and $2/b higher in 2018 compared with last month's forecast. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) average crude oil prices are forecast to be $3.50/b lower than Brent prices in 2018.

October, 13, 12:55:00 2018 OIL MARKET FORECAST Falling global crude oil stockpiles in 2017 will help put the market “roughly” into balance in 2018, but an increase in prices could be limited, especially if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries doesn’t stick to its agreement to curb output, the International Energy Agency said.

October, 11, 12:50:00 OIL PRICES 2020: $50 - $60 Based on a “lower-for-longer” base-case scenario, global oil prices will remain in the $50-60/bbl range until late 2020, due to increasing supply that breaks even at $50/bbl, according to to the most recent global oil supply and demand outlook from McKinsey Energy Insights (MEI).