WTI and Brent Crude Advance on Wednesday

For a third consecutive session, oil prices settled higher as OPEC raised its forecast for crude demand while indicating output by member countries rose in September despite a deal to limit production, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

November West Texas Intermediate crude rose 38 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $51.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

December Brent crude, the global benchmark, climbed by 33 cents, or 0.6%, to end trading at $56.94 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

In its monthly report, OPEC said crude oil production jumped by 90,000 barrels a day last month, complicating efforts by the cartel and other major producers to limit output and curb the global supply glut. OPEC also noted an increase of 31,000 barrels a day in September output by non-OPEC countries, driven partly by a rise in domestic production.

OPEC boosted its forecast for growth in global demand for oil by nearly 30,000 barrels a day for 2017 and 2018. The cartel now anticipates demand increasing by 1.5 million barrels a day in 2017 and 1.4 million barrels a day in 2018.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration lifted its crude oil price forecasts for 2017 and 2018 and increased its U.S. production outlook for 2018 by 0.8% to 9.92 million barrels a day, according to a report released Wednesday.

Late Wednesday, the market will get a weekly update from the American Petroleum Institute on U.S. petroleum supplies. The government data from the EIA will be released Thursday morning. The reports were delayed by a day this week due to the Columbus Day holiday.

Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a decrease of 400,000 barrels in crude stockpiles.

Meanwhile, November natural gas settled at $2.889 per million British thermal units, down less than 0.1%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In its winter heating fuels reported released Wednesday, the EIA forecasts that natural gas heating bills are likely to be 12% higher this winter than last year. Households using heating oil are expected to spend 17% more on their heating bills.