New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was at 48.38 dollars per barrel at 11:35 am (0335 GMT), easing off a high of 48.51 and unchanged with the close in New York.

Energy analyst at ANZ Bank Daniel Hynes said traders were readying themselves for the US stocks report.

"I think everyone's waiting for the stocks report out of the US before they make any particular move and I suppose the slight easing today is just a result of people positioning themselves for the release," he said.

Concerns over a heating oil supply during a cold US winter and the possibility of oil installations in the Middle East being sabotaged have not eased, he said.

"It all depends on the figures released from US. If we see rising heating oil stocks, prices will fall fairly quickly but if stocks are held at the same level or fall, then we could see prices moving even higher."