Crude futures up on inventory expectations

Crude oil futures rose sharply Wednesday as the markets looked forward to weekly US inventory figures due out on Thursday.

July contracts for West Texas Intermediate were up $2.63 to $54.60 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. December contracts for WTI were up over $1 to $54.55 per barrel.

In London, IPE Brent for July delivery sat at $53.27 per barrel, also a significant rise. Analysts believe that the new data from the US department of energy will show another small decline in crude stockpiles and increases in inventories of gasoline and distillates.

JP Morgan said that it expects crude oil inventories to decline by 250,000 barrels, while it thinks gasoline supplies will be 2 million barrels greater while inventories of such distillates as heating oil and diesel fuel are likely to go up by 2.1 million barrels.