Crude oil prices gain despite higher US inventories

Despite crude oil inventories that were up last week, prices in New York hit another new record high Wednesday at $110.20 per barrel after dropping immediately after announcement of the new inventories figures.

Prices were higher even though consumption in the US dropped by 0.7 percent last week against an expected rise of around 1.5 percent over last year at the same time.

The US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil stockpiles were up 6.2 million barrels in the week ending 7 March to 311.6 million barrels, a gain that was more than three times the forecast rise of 1.6 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories were also up more than expected, rising 1.7 million barrels rather than the expected 300,000 barrels, while the amount of distillates in storage fell less than had been anticipated, dropping by 1.2 million barrels rather than the expected 2 million barrels.

West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up $1.20 to $109.95 per barrel just before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude added 83 cents to $106.08 per barrel.

Nymex April gasoline dropped 4 cents to $2.69 per gallon but April heating oil was 3 cents higher to $3.03 per gallon and April natural gas added a cent to $10.01 per million British thermal units.

At-the-pump prices for gasoline in the United States added another 1.9 cents overnight to a national average of $3.246 per gallon, a new record.