By Wayne Ma SINGAPORE (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures in Asia were slightly higher Thursday, supported by a weaker U.S. dollar, as traders focused on U.S. oil inventory due from the Energy Information Administration Crude stockpiles are expected to fall by 2.9 million barrels, according to the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. The bullish forecast contrasts with Wednesday's data from the American Petroleum Institute, which reported that crude stockpiles rose over the past week. "Last night the API reported a 3.06 million-barrel-build in inventories, the first build in the last five reports and only the second in the last nine," analysts led by Stephen Schork said in a subscriber note. "This should raise concerns about demand levels relative to supply." On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at $91.29 a barrel at 0656 GMT, up 17 cents in the Globex electronic session. February Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 16 cents to $94.30 a barrel. Crude prices will likely respond more to bullish surprises rather than unexpected bearish economic data, Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note: "While we certainly leave open the possibility of some bearish surprises, particularly within the gasoline stocks category, we don't expect anything within the numbers, especially tomorrow's EIA guidance, to sway us from a near-term bullish view." Traders will focus more on weekly jobless claims, pending home sales and Chicago manfucturing data, he added. "We are still leaving open the possibility of a push to $92 for nearby WTI (West Texas Intermediate crude contracts) by week's end." Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for January--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 202 points to $2.4106 a gallon, while January heating oil traded at $2.5251, 36 points higher. ICE gasoil for January changed hands at $781.00 a metric ton, up $1.00 from Wednesday's settlement.

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