Brent crude prices stayed  near $98 on Wednesday, the highest level since October 2008, as  production shutdowns in Norway and Alaska raised expectations  of an accelerated tightening of supplies in Atlantic basin,  Middle East and Asia-Pacific oil markets.

Brent crude for February rose 8 cents to $97.69 a  barrel at 0420 GMT after touching $97.82 on Tuesday, the  highest price in 27 months.

US crude rose 3 cents to $91.14, having traded  more than $7 below Brent on Tuesday, the widest spread since  February 2009, because of landlocked high inventories at the  Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point.

A gas leak forced Norway's oil and gas producer Statoil to shut its Snorre and Vigdis fields, which jointly produce about  157,000 barrels per day (bpd). The company did not give an  outlook for when they would resume output, adding to supply  concerns as Europe's winter depletes stockpiles.

Trans Alaska Pipeline operator Alyeska late on Monday  received government permission to restart the duct for  "interim operations" after a leak shut it down four days ago,  a company spokeswoman said, adding flows would resume through  the night though she gave no estimate of volumes.

The pipeline normally transports about 12 percent of US crude output. An outage lasting more than a week may force  refiners in the U.S. west coast to look for alternatives in  Russia and Middle East, traders and analysts said.

"With the strong demand growth from Asia, disruptions have  become a concern again," said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with  Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp. "People are looking at a higher  baseline of inventories in a more dangerous geopolitical  environment."     
"The cold weather is also making the market more  sensitive. Brent is a waterborne crude and will be affected  more by any disruption. It represents the swing crude going to  Asia," which may be pulled over to the U.S. west coast, Nunan  said.     

Support also came from forecasts for higher heating demand  this week as the US Northeast, the world's biggest heating  oil market, prepared for another snowstorm.

US crude oil stockpiles managed a 57,000-barrel gain  last week, according to data from industry group the American  Petroleum Institute released late on Tuesday, in the face of  expectations crude stocks had fallen.  - Reuters