The U.S. oil benchmark
scored its biggest one-day jump in three weeks Wednesday after weekly
government data showed a large and unexpected fall in U.S. crude
inventories and an increase in demand by refineries.
On the New York
Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May
advanced $1.86, or 5.2%, to close at $37.75 a barrel. The jump was the
biggest since March 16. June Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures
exchange rose $1.97, or 5.2%, to finish at $39.84 a barrel.
The Energy Information
Administration said oil inventories fell by 4.9 million barrels in the
week ended April 1. Analysts surveyed by oil data firm Platts had
forecast an inventory rise of 2.9 million barrels. Oil futures, however,
had already found support after closely watched data from the American
Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group, late Tuesday reportedly
showed a 4.1 million barrel drop.
The decline was the
biggest for this week of the year since at least 1997, according to
Bespoke Investment Group. In addition, the data showed U.S. refineries
used over 16.4 million barrels a day on average, up 199,000 barrels from
a week earlier. Refiners operated at 91.4% of operable capacity last
week, the data showed.
Source: MarketWatch
0 komentar :
Post a Comment