Oil prices went back up even though an increase in inventories was announced, and OPEC said that there was no supply problem.
Light, sweet crude went up 24 cents to US$54.23 a barrel, and heating oil fell to US$1.6040 a gallon (3.8 liters).
A Forbes article says:
“On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Department said in its weekly petroleum supply report that the nation’s inventory of crude oil grew by 5.4 million barrels last week to 314.7 million barrels, or 9 percent above year-ago levels.
Gasoline inventories fell by 2.9 million barrels last week to 214.4 million barrels, or 6 percent above year ago levels, the agency said. The supply of distillate fuel, which includes diesel and heating oil, dropped by 1.1 million barrels to 103.4 million barrels, or 2 percent below last year’s level.”
“Crude oil keeps rolling into key consuming markets, but refiners have been slow to convert it into enough gasoline and heating oil to rebuild product stocks. And tight product markets are helping soften downward price reactions to the crude stock builds,” Energy Intelligence said.
The U.S. imported the most crude of the year last week putting inventories at their highest since July 2002.
According to a Bloomberg article,
“Crude for May delivery climbed 82 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $54.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:36 p.m. London time, up 26 percent this quarter and 53 percent in the past year. Prices reached a record $57.60 two weeks ago. Gasoline for April delivery jumped 1.8 cents, or 1.1 percent, to a record $1.6141 a gallon. Heating oil gained 1.34 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $1.62 a gallon.
Brent crude for May settlement rose $1.74, or 3.3 percent, to $53.83 on London’s International Petroleum Exchange.”
murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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