Crude prices, inventories higher in US

Crude oil prices gained on the session Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut US interest rates to 3 percent, although some analysts made the distinction that the gains were not due to the Fed’s decision itself, but came after equities markets gained on the news.

West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery added 69 cents to close at $92.33 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Prices were also supported by the news that an oil sand field in Canada that produces 315,000 barrels per day had been temporarily closed due to cold weather.

The price gains also came even though the US Energy Information Administration reported that US crude oil inventories grew by 3.6 million barrels in the week ending 25 January to 293 million barrels, a gain of 1 million more barrels than had been anticipated.

Gasoline stockpiles also grew by 3.6 million barrels last week, while distillates in storage declined by 1.5 million barrels.

Refinery usage dropped 1.5 percent to 85 percent during the week, much more of a decline than analysts had expected.

Nymex March gasoline added about half a cent to $2.377 per gallon while March heating oil was up 1 cent to $2.54 per gallon and March natural gas gained 8.7 cents to $8.03 per million British thermal units.

Gasoline demand was down 24,000 barrels last week but grew by 1.4 percent over the past 4 weeks compared to last year at the same time.