Crude-oil prices rose Wednesday past $52 a barrel, with investors taking positions ahead of the U.S. inventory figures due out later in the week. July-dated light sweet crude oil futures added 43 cents to $52.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Expectations are mixed for the weekly data. Trading and research firm Fimat expects an increase of 1 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories, while IFR Energy Services expects a decline of 1 million to 2 million barrels. The Energy Department will release the inventory figures Thursday, a day late due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday. Orin Middleton, an energy analyst at Barclays Capital, said the near 7% advance last week in the price of crude oil was kick-started by weaker-than-expected inventory data last Wednesday, though the market has since seen a lot of technical short covering. 'The market is very 'net short' from a speculative point of view," Middleton said. "We've seen oil break through some key resistance levels last week." "In the near term, I think we will see oil continue to bounce around and just be governed by technicals," he added.