West Texas Intermediate crude rose to a six-week high on projections of a second consecutive drop in U.S. inventories. The spread between WTI and Brent oil from the North Sea tightened to the narrowest in a month.

Futures climbed as much as 1.4 percent in New York. A government report tomorrow will probably show crude supplies slipped by 3 million barrels last week, according to the median of nine analyst responses in a Bloomberg survey. The Brent-WTI spread has shrunk more than $8 since Nov. 27. A Libyan security official said today that three oil ports will reopen Dec. 15.

WTI for January delivery rose 51 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $97.85 a barrel at 11:06 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract touched $98.74, the highest level since Oct. 28. The volume of all futures traded was 5.1 percent above the 100-day average.

Brent for January settlement slipped 73 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $108.66 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 57 percent higher than the 100-day average.