Oil creeps up as markets tighten before double dose of U.S. data

Oil edged higher for a fourth day as shipments from key Libyan ports were suspended, becoming the latest factor to compound market tightness.

West Texas Intermediate added 1.8 per cent to trade at more than US$113 a barrel. Libya’s state oil company suspended shipments from two key eastern ports, while Iranian media said talks to revive a nuclear deal that could boost the country’s supply ended Wednesday with little effect. Output in Ecuador also has been lower due to ongoing protests. 

Those curbs to supply come as Shell Plc said spare energy production capacity is running very low, and the company’s chief executive officer painted a bleak picture of the global energy supply.