Oil prices have risen slightly amid surge in bank lending across China, the world's top energy consumer.
New York's main contract West Texas Intermediate for delivery in March on Monday rose 59 US cents to $US100.89 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for April was up 13 US cents to stand at $109.21 a barrel at 0722 AEDT.
"China's credit news showed that the credit increased and that there is still growth there. Maybe it is not as fast but it is still moving along," Kelly Teoh, market strategist at IG markets in Singapore, told AFP.
Loans by Chinese banks reached around 1.3 trillion yuan ($UA241 billion) in January, up 246.9 billion yuan from the same month a year ago, the People's Bank of China said at the weekend.
In December, banks granted just 482.5 billion yuan in new loans, previous figures showed.
The January lending figure beat analyst estimates.
Phillip Futures said in a market commentary that extremely cold weather in the United States is helping to push up New York oil prices.
"This benefited crude oil as a feedstock to heating fuels," it said.
Phillip Futures added that Brent was coming under pressure from increased production in Libya.
