New inventories numbers send crude prices higher

Crude oil prices were higher on Wednesday after stockpiles in the United States dropped much more than had been anticipated. The Energy Information Administration released new data that showed inventories of crude oil were down by 4.8 million barrels in the week ending March 2. Stockpiles of crude had been expected to rise by 2 million barrels over the week. Much of the drop was due to persistent fog along the Gulf Coast, which limited the delivery of imports. Crude stockpiles are expected to rebound this week.

Meanwhile, gasoline inventories were down by 3.8 million barrels last week, more than the expected 1.4 million barrel decline. But heating oil stockpiles only dropped by 1.3 million barrels last week against an expected decline of 2.5 million barrels. At the same time, demand for petroleum products in the US was up by 6.8 percent in the past four weeks, over demand last year at this time, to 21.71 million barrels per day. Refinery utilization, in contrast, dropped 0.2 percent to 85.8 percent.

Brent crude for April delivery added $1.07 to $62.46 per barrel in London, while April contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up $1.02 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to $61.71 per barrel. Nymex RBOB gasoline for April gained almost 3 cents to $1.8828 per gallon, while Nymex April heating oil was nearly 2 cents higher to $1.7640 per gallon.