EIA data sends WTI to highest price of year

Crude oil prices soared to their highest level of the year in New York Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil stockpiles in the United States grew less than expected last week while gasoline inventories were down during the same period.

West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $2.50 to $56.34 per barrel on the New York Mercantile exchange, the highest price for a current contract since mid-November, while Brent crude was $2.11 higher to $56.23 per barrel at last report on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The EIA said that crude oils inventories in the United States only grew by 600,000 barrels in the week ending 1 May, while gasoline stockpiles dropped by 200,000 barrels and distillates in storage added 2.4 million barrels last week.

Even with the lower-than-expected gain for crude oil and the surprise decline in gasoline inventories, US crude oil stockpiles remained up 49.7 million barrels from last year at the same time while gasoline stockpiles were still half a million barrels higher than during the same week last year.

Gains in prices also came on a private report that said fewer jobs than expected were lost in the US private sector last month, giving hope that the economy is on its way to recover.