U.S. crude futures rose Wednesday on continued uncertainty about Egypt and a weaker dollar as investors awaitedthe government's weekly oil inventory report. While no oil supply disruptions have resulted from Egypt's political turmoil, the potential for the unrest to affect shipping traffic and pipeline flows and spill over to other countries in the region continued to keep oil traders wary. The uncertainty also helped Brent crude stay above $100 a barrel and its premium to U.S. crude CL-LCO1=R near a record above $13 a barrel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly oil inventory report is set for release at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) on Wednesday. The report will follow an industry report showing crude stocks unexpectedly fell last week. U.S. crude oil inventories fell 558,000 barrels last week as imports fell 1.1 million barrels per day, industry group American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. Gasoline stocks rose 3.2 million barrels, more than forecast, and distillate stocks fell only 538,000 barrels, less than expected, the API said. Ahead of the API report, a Reuters survey of analysts yielded a forecast for crude stocks to have risen for a fourth consecutive week, by 2.4 million barrels. Distillate stocks, including heating oil and diesel fuel, were forecast to have fallen 1.2 million barrels and gasoline stocks were expected to be up 2.5 million barrels.
