Oil in New York rose for the first time in six days as anti-government demonstrators planned to escalate protests in Egypt, renewing concern that crude supplies from the Middle East may be disrupted. Futures rose as much as 0.4 percent as more protesters prepared to gather in Cairo’s Tahrir Square tomorrow. About 3.5 percent of global oil output moves through Egypt via the Suez Canal and the Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline. New York oil’s discount to Brent futures narrowed from a record after an Energy Department report yesterday showed supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI crude, shrank last week. “Fears of a closure in the Suez canal have abated a bit, but when it comes to a revolution in Egypt, anything is possible,” said Gordon Kwan, Hong-Kong based head of regional energy research at Mirae Asset Securities Ltd. “I would expect Brent prices to go to $110 by this weekend if the protests continue to escalate.” The March contract rose as much as 36 cents to $87.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $86.90 at 2:56 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, it slipped 23 cents to $86.71, the lowest settlement since Jan. 27. Prices are 17 percent higher than a year earlier. The gain in New York futures outpaced Brent crude in London, narrowing the spread to the European benchmark. The difference was $14.98 a barrel today, from $15.11 yesterday. It averaged 76 cents last year. Brent Crude Brent for March settlement advanced 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $101.88 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The more-actively traded April contract rose 6 cents to $102.38 a barrel. Hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated in Cairo since Jan. 25 seeking an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s rule. Protesters in Cairo are planning to increase their numbers tomorrow, dubbed a “Friday of Defiance.” Oil prices also gained as China’s yuan neared a 17-year high against the dollar, making it cheaper for the world’s second-biggest crude consumer to purchase commodities. China’s yuan gained 0.08 percent to 6.5888 per dollar, near a 17-year high, as U.S. lawmakers prepared to introduce legislation aimed at pushing Asia’s largest economy to let its currency strengthen faster. “If you look at all the Asian currencies, they are all up against the U.S. dollar,” said Kwan. “Certainly it impacts not just oil but a whole asset class of commodities.” Relative Strength New York crude slid 4.6 percent in the five days ended yesterday, the longest losing streak since Aug. 24. Oil’s 14-day relative strength index, a measure of how fast prices have risen or fallen, dropped to 42.3 yesterday, the lowest in almost two weeks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A reading of 30 or less can be taken as a sign that a market is “oversold” and may be set to increase. Stockpiles of crude oil at Cushing fell 927,000 barrels to 37.4 million last week, according to yesterday’s report. Supplies in the week ended Jan. 28 climbed to the highest level since the department started keeping records at the storage hub in 2004. Cushing is landlocked in the central U.S. Total U.S. crude inventories added 1.9 million barrels to 345.1 million. They were forecast to increase 2 million barrels, according to the median of 15 analyst projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Inventories of gasoline and distillate fuels, including diesel and heating oil, also gained. Brent-Dubai Brent’s rally above $100 a barrel has extended its premium to alternative benchmark grades including Dubai oil, as well as New York futures. That may lead refiners to shun West African and North Sea oil in favor of cheaper supplies from the Middle East and Latin America. Brent was $3.93 a barrel more expensive than Dubai crude yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, compared with an average $1.55 in 2010. The difference may rise to about $5 this month, the most since October 2008, the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of five Asian refiners and traders showed. To contact the reporter on this story: To contact the reporter on this story: Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net

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