Oil price up to near $97 ahead of ECB meeting

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for October delivery was up 47 cents to $96.94 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.85 to finish at $96.47 Friday. There was no closing price Monday because of a public holiday in the U.S.

In London, Brent crude was up $1.72 at $116.29 on the ICE Futures exchange.

The ECB's governing council is meeting Thursday and ECB President Mario Draghi is expected to reveal a new bond-buying program aimed at easing borrowing cost for countries like Spain and Italy.

The ECB's awaited announcement "is likely to prompt speculative financial investors to jump on the bandwagon and drive the (oil) price further upward," said analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

"The development of prices and the commitment displayed by investors are at odds with the fundamental data, which continue to suggest an oversupply," analysts at Commerzbank said. If the central banks fail to live up to expectations, oil prices are likely to drop sharply, they added.

Speculation about the ECB's stimulus measures has helped support the euro against the dollar. After dropping to near two-year lows near $1.20 at the end of July, the euro has pushed back to near $1.26. That pushes up oil prices, which is traded in dollars and becomes cheaper for holders of other currencies when the dollar drops.