NEW YORK, February 16 (FinanceEnquiry.com) -  A report on the European Central Bank (ECB) exchanging its 50 billion euro Greek government bond holdings for new Greek bonds led to an increase in oil. The oil took a hop from a 0.9 percent decline on ECB's report.

As per the report, by newspaper Die Welt, the bond swap is scheduled to be completed by Feb. 20. Oil for March delivery was up 62 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $102.42 at 11:56 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after declining as low as $100.84. Yesterday, the contract went up $101.80, the highest close since January 10. Brent oil for April settlement rose 97 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $119.90 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.