Oil prices continued a weeklong rally on Friday in Asia, jumping above USD 78 a barrel, after US gasoline inventories unexpectedly fell.
Benchmark crude for November delivery rose as much as 59 cents to USD 78.17 before slipping back to USD 78.03 by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract on Thursday rose USD 2.40 to settle at USD 77.58.
The Energy Information Administration said on Thursday that US gasoline supplies fell 5.2 million barrels while analysts had expected a jump of 1.6 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Crude supplies rose 4,00,000 barrels, the EIA said, while analysts had anticipated an 2.2 million barrel gain.
Until this week, oil had bounced between USD 65 and USD 75 since May.
"The transition to a USD 70 to USD 80 range is now in full cry," Barclays Capital said in a report. "We expect further transitions upward to occur in line with improvements in the underlying market data."
A falling US dollar has also helped boost oil this week.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil was steady at USD 2.02 a gallon.
Gasoline for November delivery held at USD 1.95 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery jumped 3.0 cents to USD 4.51 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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