New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for April delivery, was up four cents to USD 101.16 in mid-morning trade. Brent North Sea crude for April advanced nine cents to USD 108.17.
Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC markets in Singapore, said China's "surprisingly dismal" trade balance data was bearing down on the market.
He said in a market commentary that China's weakest trade balance in two years was "fuelling concerns that global growth is stifling".
It was also expected to "ease off some of the crude oil premium built over the Ukrainian crisis", Chua said.
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The figure contrasted with a surplus of USD 14.8 billion in the same month last year, and a median forecast of an USD 11.9 billion surplus in a poll of 13 economists by Dow Jones Newswires.
Investors also continue to keep an eye on the geopolitical tensions in Ukraine as the United Nation Security Council met again on Monday following Kiev's request.
The UN has been trying to defuse tensions since Russia deployed troops last week in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula after a months-long tussle over Ukraine's future direction, which saw the pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych flee the country.
There are concerns that US and European sanctions on Moscow over the Crimea incursion could disrupt oil supplies from Russia, a major energy producer and exporter of natural gas to Western Europe.
More than 70 per cent of its gas and oil exports to Europe pass through Ukraine.