Oil prices crept higher Tuesday as traders awaited fresh U.S. government data on domestic fuel inventories.

Crude futures had fallen during the past two trading sessions amid doubts about OPEC's ability to implement its recent decision to cut daily production by more than 1 million barrels. But some traders believe the cartel's intentions could nevertheless put a price-floor in place.

Light sweet crude for December delivery climbed 51 cents to $59.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, December Brent crude futures on the ICE Futures exchange gained 53 cents to $59.74.

The oil market is "nearing the exhaustion of its immediate-term downtrend," said Citigroup analyst Tim Evans, who believes the market's early analysis of the OPEC move could shift.

But the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies said in its latest research note that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to make public the individual starting points for cuts, which is a cause for concern.

"Venezuela and Iran have both consistently claimed much higher production levels, raising doubts that they will make any real cuts," the note said.

The Energy Information Administration is to issue weekly U.S. oil data Wednesday. Crude oil inventories are expected to grow for the fourth week in a row, by 2.7 million barrels, according to a survey of analysts by Dow Jones Newswires. Distillates stocks, which include heating oil, will likely fall by 1.6 million barrels to 143.8 million barrels, the survey showed.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil was up 2.2 cents to $1.691 a gallon, while gasoline futures rose almost 5 cents to $1.518 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 10.2 cents to $6.983 per thousand cubic feet.