Crude-oil futures climbed Wednesday to touch a high of $62 a barrel after U.S. data showed that supplies of crude declined for the first time in three weeks and distillate and gasoline inventories have been falling for several weeks.
"Import dynamics caused surprises in inventory changes," said Jason Schenker, an economist at Wachovia Corp.
"Lower crude and gasoline imports engendered a surprise draw in crude inventories and a larger-than-expected gasoline draw," he said an in e-mailed note to clients. And "the distillate inventory draw was mitigated by increased imports."
Crude for April delivery was last up $1.16 at $61.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, following a climb to as high as $62.
Looking at the charts from This Week In Petroleum, we see that gas inventories have been dropping for the last few weeks while the oil inventory just dropped this week.
Here's another chart of interest -- gas prices:
They've been ticking up lately.
2 comments:
Wow, clear evidence of price manipulation by the refiners right around the election. I hope there's an investigation looming!
evidence of manipulation?
what a load of crap! (or has my snark meter failed me?)
This winter, crude prices sagged after OPEC overproduction all summer to capture the high prices caused by speculators piling in. After hurricane season ended with a fizzle the entire complex fell down.
Then with no winter weather, even more pressure on prices until we hit $49.9 in early Jan. Real weather, OPEC discipline and now optimism as we head into driving season is lifting prices again.
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