OIL market

Oil futures were trading slightly higher on Thursday amid low trading activity ahead of the New Year holiday and as traders await official inventory data later in the day.

The US West Texas Intermediate crude contracts were up 0.25 percent to $59.79 per barrel as of 06:30 GMT. Meanwhile, Brent futures added 0.24 percent to $66.60 a barrel.

Overnight, the American Petroleum Institute said crude inventories went down by 6 million barrels in the week ended December 22 to a total of 432.8 million barrels.

Today, investors will keep an eye on the official inventory report by the US Energy Information Administration, which is due for release as of 15:00 GMT. API and EIA reports often diverge.

Earlier this week, both crude benchmarks have reached levels not seen since mid-2015. On Wednesday, WTI contracts broke above $60 per barrel, while the Brent stood at $67 a barrel.

Market analysts believe the jump in quotes is related to a continuous support by OPEC-led output cuts, which have been recently extended to cover all of 2018.

Disruptions in crude and gas pipelines in the North Sea and Libya have also been supporting oil prices. However, Ineos said on Wednesday Forties pipeline is expected to gradually recover its 450,000 barrels per day capacity by New Year.

"Ineos continues to make good progress towards the restart of the Forties Pipeline System," the company wrote in a statement.

"Ineos has partially restarted the Kinneil facility. Flows through the pipeline and Kinneil will be increased gradually as we prove the system."