NYMEX January crude futures settled $2.37 higher at $100.14/barrel Tuesday, finding underlying support from ongoing tensions between the west and Iran and signs that the US Federal Reserve left the door open for further easing in monetary policy in 2012.
January heating oil settled 3.27 cents higher at $2.9288/gal and January RBOB settled 6.18 cents higher at $2.6254/gal.
ICE January Brent settled $2.24 higher at $109.50/b.
Carl Larry, president of Oil Outlooks, said the oil complex and equity markets rallied ahead of the release of the Federal Open Market Committee statement Tuesday as investors speculated that the Fed would announce another round of quantitative easing.
"When we saw the FOMC statement, there was no definitive easing but they have kept the option open," Larry said.
Even still, oil prices held gains after the Fed statement amid underlying support from nuclear tensions surrounding Iran.
"People are accepting that the US economy is getting better. It's not necessarily strong but it is making progress," he said.
