Inventories report sends crude oil prices up

Oil prices were higher on Wednesday after the weekly US inventories report from the Energy Information Agency, part of the US Department of Energy, produced results that surprised analysts and traders. While crude oil inventories had been expected to decline by 1.2 million barrels in the week ending April 20, they were actually up by 2.1 million barrels to 334.5 million barrels. Conversely, while analysts expected that gasoline inventories would grow by 200,000 barrels, they were down by 2.8 million barrels during the week. That took gasoline stockpiles down to their lowest level in a year and a half. Distillate stockpiles remained steady, with heating oil supplies down but diesel inventories higher in the week.

Brent crude for June delivery was up 96 cents to $68.12 on the Intercontiental Exchange in London, while June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude added 56 cents to $65.14 by late morning on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Nymex gasoline added 3.26 cents to $2.2415 per gallon. Nymex heating oil was also higher, gaining 2.94 cents to $1.8754 per gallon, while natural gas prices dropped 2.1 cents to $7.577 per 1,000 cubic feet.