Oil rose to near 82 dollars a barrel today in Asia. Benchmark crude was up 31 cents to 81.81dollars a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 2.15 dollars to settle at 81.51 dollars a barrel on Monday.The rise in prices is due to a jump in US stock markets which boosted investor confidence. Besides colder weather in the US, which traders expect will spur higher demand for oil products also helped in surge in oil prices.