Crude oil rose above $96 a barrel in New York yesterday on speculation a US Energy Department report today will show that US inventories fell for a sixth week.

Prices also rose after Turkish jets bombed suspected Kurdish rebel camps in northern Iraq.

"Most people are expecting tomorrow's report to show yet another drop because of fog in the Houston ship channel and other disruptions," said Tom Bentz, a broker at BNP Paribas in New York, yesterday.

"There's some increased concern because of attacks by Turkish airplanes against the Kurds."

Crude oil prices also rose because the dollar fell against the euro. Oil for February delivery rose $1.94, or 2.2 per cent, to $96.07 a barrel in early trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil reached $96.17 yesterday, the highest since November 27th.

There was no floor trading in New York yesterday because of the Christmas holiday. Electronic trading began at 6pm yesterday.

STX Energy, an affiliate of the world's fifth-biggest shipbuilder, has bought stakes in oil fields off the Irish coast and off the Faroe Islands for about $140 million from Royal Dutch Shell.

South Korean group STX acquired a 25 per cent stake each in Block 2-94 and Block 2-05 off the northwest, and a 10 per cent stake in a block southeast of the Faroes. South Korean companies are boosting investments in overseas oil and gas development projects as competition for supplies with China and India intensifies.- (Bloomberg)