Good economic data Wednesday helped push oil markets slightly higher, though prices still reflected uncertainty following OPEC's production decision.

Oil markets plummeted last week after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to keep output steady despite a 30 percent loss in crude oil prices since June. In response to the decision, analysis firm Wood Mackenzie said it saw "only marginally higher" demand growth emerging next year, with Chinese growth behind most of the optimism.

A string of good economic data from leading economies spurred some recent rallies in oil prices, though the general trend continues to support a bear market.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price, gained about 70 cents to trade near the $68 per barrel mark for the January contract early Wednesday.

WTI prices faltered during the Tuesday session on word more oil came online in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

On Wednesday, payroll processor ADP said it saw some bright spots in the U.S. labor market, though new jobs gains were lower than expected.

"Steady as she goes in the job market," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said in a statement. "At this pace the unemployment rate will drop by half a percentage point per annum."

Low oil prices means lower gasoline prices for U.S. consumers, which some analysts see as a de facto source of economic stimulus. The price for WTI, however, is reaching a point where some U.S. shale oil producers might find it too expensive to keep drilling.

Overseas, British Chancellor George Osborne said there was a silver lining for the nation's economy.

"Four years ago, I presented accounts of an economy in crisis," he said. "Today I present a forecast showing the U.K. is the fastest growing of any major economy in the developed world."

Brent, a global benchmark based on North Sea oil, gained more than 40 cents per barrel early Wednesday to trade at $71 for the January contract.