Oil steady after holiday, Mexico ports reopen

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil was steady above $94 a barrel on Wednesday, although Mexican export terminals reopened following a cold front that had helped fuel pre-holiday gains.

U.S. light, sweet crude for February delivery was 5 cents higher at $94.18 a barrel by 1832 EST after gaining 82 cents on Monday. Trading volumes remained particularly thin with only 185 lots of the front-month contract trading.

U.S. oil inventory data, which will be released a day later than usual on Thursday due to the Christmas holiday, is expected to show a further 1.8 million barrel decline in crude stocks due to a dip in imports, slowed by bad weather in Texas and the Gulf.

It is also expected to show a 1.2-million-barrel draw on distillates and a 1.8-million-barrel build in gasoline stocks, according to a preliminary Reuters poll.

All three of Mexico's main oil-exporting ports shut on Sunday due to a story. Two of the ports, Cayo Arcas and Coatzacoalcos, reopened on Monday while the third, Dos Bocas, reopened early on Tuesday after the two-day closure.

Mexico is one of the top three suppliers of crude oil to the United States. About 80 percent of the country's crude exports are shipped from the three ports.

Monday's gains were tempered by a U.S. government prediction that nationwide heating demand would be about 17 percent below normal this week and that the weather would remain mild into the first week of January.

Oil prices have been holding in range below last month's all-time peak of $99.29 a barrel, as dealers weigh tight inventories in the world's top consumer nations against the threat that an economic slowdown will cut consumption.

But the front-month contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange is up more than 50 percent in nominal terms since January, the biggest gain since 2002. The price has averaged around $72 this year, up from $66.25 in 2006.