Crude-oil futures were in positive territory in Asian trade on Friday after U.S. inventory data showed an overall decline in oil and oil product stocks. On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $97.58 a barrel at 0624 GMT–up $0.26 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.17 to $107.75 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories in the week ended Jan. 17 increased by 1 million barrels to 351.2 million barrels–the first weekly increase since November–compared with an estimated increase of 1.2 million barrels, Energy Information Administration data showed. Gasoline stocks rose by 2.1 million barrels to 235.3 million barrels. But, distillate stocks including heating oil and diesel fuel fell by 3.2 million barrels to 120.7 million barrels–indicating stronger fuel demand in January so far as a result of extreme cold. Nymex […]