Oil Prices Climb to $59.62 a Barrel

SINGAPORE - Oil prices climbed in Asian trading Wednesday amid expectations that the weekly U.S. oil inventory snapshot will show a drop in domestic supplies of gasoline and distillates such as heating oil.

Gasoline prices have risen lately as traders anticipated an increase in gasoline demand in the approaching U.S. summer driving season, coupled with low stocks amid refinery outages in the United States, the world's largest oil consumer.

"Even though the official start is still two months away, (gasoline) prices hit a seven-month high (Monday). Gasoline inventories have fallen about 6 percent since early February, and are expected to fall further," said John Kilduff of …