Oil prices rose on Wednesday as outages that have knocked about a million barrels daily from world supply outweighed U.S. government data showing builds in gasoline and distillate supplies. U.S. crude futures settled up 69 cents at $46.37 a barrel while Brent crude in London was up 56 cents at $43.71 a barrel. Global supply outages have lifted prices with output offline in the the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, Nigeria and Iraq. Iraqi exports have been stymied by continued sabotage on its northern pipeline infrastructure and power problems in the south, forcing Baghdad to cut all its February-June Basra Light crude sales contracts by 10 percent, or about 160,000 bpd. Dealers are worried that violence leading up to or following the Jan. 30 elections could further hamper oil flows, singled out as a prime target by al Qaeda. The concerns have helped push oil up nearly $3 a barrel since the beginning of the year. Oil also rose on a weaker dollar. "We held fairly strong on crude because of the weakness of the dollar, with traders concerned that OPEC might cut production because of the dollar's low value," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet on Jan. 30 to discuss whether further cuts may be necessary as the northern winter ends. --More 2327 Local Time 2027 GMT
