Oil prices rose Wednesday as traders awaited the weekly U.S. crude inventory report and assessed the possibility of further OPEC production cuts.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery gained 24 cents to $59.17 a barrel in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. December Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 31 cents to $58.79 a barrel.

Heating oil futures edged lower to $1.6792 a gallon on the Nymex, where unleaded gasoline futures rose slightly to $1.5250 a gallon. Natural gas futures gained 9 cents to $7.847 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The U.S. inventory report to be released later in the day was expected to show modest increases in crude and gasoline stocks. Last week, crude oil stocks rose by 2 million barrels to 334.3 million barrels. Demand is currently low as the Northern Hemisphere winter has yet to set in.

The market also is mulling the possibility that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would implement additional production cuts in December following a plan to reduce oil output by 1.2 million barrels a day starting Nov. 1. Analysts and traders are also questioning how many of the 11 OPEC members will deliver on the cuts they've already promised.