Oil up above $ 59, eyes on US distillate stockdraw

SEOUL, Feb 7 (Reuters) Oil prices climbed back above a barrel on Wednesday ahead of an expected sharp fall in weekly U.S. distillate stocks as a blast of cold weather boosted heating fuel demand in the world's top consumer.

U.S. crude oil futures gained 48 cents to .36 a barrel by 0333 GMT, adding to a 14-cent rise on Tuesday. London Brent crude was up 48 cents to .90.

Oil has rebounded from a sharp slide at the start of the year, rallying nearly from a 20-month low struck in mid-January as temperatures drop, OPEC supply cuts start to bite and investors take a renewed interest in the energy complex.

Unusually warm winter conditions finally eased late last month, with colder weather leading to an expected 3.2 million-barrel draw in weekly U.S. distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel, a Reuters poll show. S] ''Stock levels will continue to fall until the end of February as a cold spell hits the United States,'' said Koo Ja-kyum, chief analyst at Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).

The data for the week ended Feb. 2, due out at 1530 GMT, are also expected to show a 1.8 million-barrel rise in gasoline stocks and a 1.4 million-barrel increase in crude inventories, partly offsetting the bullishness of lower distillate supplies.

Heating fuel stocks are falling with temperatures in the United States, where heating fuel demand is expected to be about 20 percent above normal, the National Weather Service predicts.

Oil prices are now rising toward the level that often prompts consumers to call for additional supplies, but OPEC members are pushing ahead with a second round of output curbs, of 500,000 barrels per bay (bpd), which took effect on Feb. 1.

A senior official with Nigeria's state oil company said the world's eight-largest crude exporter will cut as much as 300,000 bpd of crude output in the next two months to meet its OPEC obligations.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it expected combined commercial oil stocks in the United States and other industrial countries may decline by 900,000 bpd in the first quarter, compared with an average inventory drawdown of just 300,000 bpd, due to the OPEC cuts.

REUTERS CS DB1157