West Texas Intermediate crude rose after TransCanada Corp. said it expects to finish construction and begin commissioning the southern portion of its Keystone pipeline expansion by end of October.

The spread between WTI and Brent oil, the European benchmark, narrowed on speculation that completion of the link will help reduce stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the WTI contract. The 700,000-barrel-a-day pipeline will run to the Texas Gulf Coast from Cushing. Futures extended gains after a government report showed that stockpiles at the hub fell to the lowest level since February, 2012.

WTI crude for November delivery rose $1.49, or 1.5 percent, to $103.53 a barrel at 11:31 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract slid 0.3 percent to settle at $102.04 yesterday, the lowest close since July 3. The volume of all futures traded was 61 percent above the 100-day average.

Brent oil for November settlement gained 94 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $108.88 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 3.3 percent lower than the 100-day average. The European benchmark traded at a $5.35 premium to WTI, down from $5.90 yesterday.