U.S. oil rises for first time in eight days after stocks fall

TOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. oil futures rose on Wednesday
for the first time in eight days, pulling further back from the
widely watched $30-per-barrel level breached the previous
session, after industry data showed crude stocks unexpectedly
fell last week.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) CLc1 was up 30
cents at $30.74 a barrel at 0033 GMT. On Tuesday, it fell 97
cents to close at $30.44 a barrel, after touching a low of
$29.93, which was last seen in December 2003.
Brent crude LCOc1 , the global benchmark, was yet to trade.
The contract fell 69 cents to settle at $30.86, after bottoming
at $30.34, on Tuesday.
The $30 mark is both a psychological and financial threshold
and, in recent days, traders have poured money into $30 put
options for expiration in February and March.
U.S. crude stocks fell by 3.9 million barrels in the week to
480.071 million, compared with analysts' expectations for a
increase of 2.5 million barrels, data from industry group the
American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday. APIS/S
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for WTI
fell by 302,000 barrels, API said.
But the bearish outlook for oil remains after the U.S.
government forecast on Tuesday that the global glut will swell
until late 2017.
Increased Iranian oil output should feed the glut this year
with the expected lifting of Western sanctions on that country's
exports, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
The agency forecast that a limited decline in U.S. supplies
next year and steady growth in global demand will help ease the
glut only in the third quarter of 2017, the first decline after
nearly four straight years of gains.
Still, in a reminder that geopolitical tensions have the
potential to support prices, Iran is holding 10 U.S. sailors
after seizing two Navy boats that allegedly entered Iranian
waters in the Gulf on Tuesday.