Gasoline prices rise ahead of summer driving season

Just a day before spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere, crude oil prices rose on Monday in anticipation of the coming summer driving season in the United States. May contracts for Brent crude added 64 cents on the International Exchange at late afternoon in London, trading at $60.94 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate for April delivery was up 24 cents to $57.35 per barrel in early afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With the April contract due to expire at the close of trade on Tuesday, May contracts were trading at $60.03 per barrel, a gain of 45 cents.

Gasoline futures were higher after BP’s refinery near Los Angeles, which produces 260,000 barrels of gasoline per day, was shut down temporarily. Nymex gasoline was 5 cents higher to $1.9563 per gallon, its highest price since it rose above $2 per gallon in August 2006. The shutdown added to supply worries as the weather warms and demand for gasoline traditionally rises.