Oil prices up

SINGAPORE, Feb 12 (AFP) :  Oil prices rose in Asia Wednesday on strong winter demand and expectations that new Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen will not shake up US monetary policy.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for March, was up 56 cents at $100.50 in afternoon Asian trade, while Brent North Sea crude was 11 cents higher at $108.79.

"The cold weather continues to come into play here with a fall in distillate supplies," said Desmond Chua, an analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore.

"Investors seem to like the certainty and confidence of ... Yellen," he added.

Yellen, in her first public comments as Fed chair after taking the helm of the US central bank on February 1, stressed little deviation from the current strategy of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

"I expect a great deal of continuity in the FOMC's approach to monetary policy," she told the Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Investors are also looking ahead to the US Department of Energy's weekly petroleum stockpiles data to be released later Wednesday.