U.S. crude for February delivery traded at $63.87 a barrel at 1239 GMT, up 72 cents from the January contract expiry of $63.15 on Tuesday. London Brent February crude rose 52 cents to $63.33.

Delays to U.S. oil imports due to dense fog along the Gulf of Mexico coast forced refiners to draw on inventories last week.

U.S. crude stocks were expected to fall 1.7 million barrels in government data due later on Wednesday, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.

The fog disruptions exacerbated an overall tightening inventory picture, analysts said.

U.S. commercial crude and refined product stocks combined were just half a million barrels higher than the same time a year ago last week, a sharp fall from a huge 76 million barrels year-on-year surplus at the end of September.

Crude stocks were still four percent higher than a year ago, but gasoline and distillate stocks were lower.

"I think what we are getting here is a little bit of a delayed reaction to tightening inventories," said Paul Horsnell at Barclays Capital.