Manufacturing data helps crude prices

The price of crude oil was up Monday on hopes that demand for gasoline will rise after China’s manufacturing output was up for a third month in a row in May, the Commerce Department reported that US factory output did not contract as much as expected, and the US dollar weakened, making oil purchased in other currencies less expensive.

West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was $2.11 higher to $68.42 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading as high as $68.68 per barrel earlier in the session, while July contracts for Brent crude added $2.31 to $67.83 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The gain for WTI also came after BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) raised its prediction for prices to $75, $12 higher than its previous projection.

Also helping prices to rise was a comment from International Energy Agency head Nobuo Tanaka, who said that while global demand might not have quite reached bottom, it could return to five-year averages by the end of the year.

Nymex July gasoline futures added 5 cents to $1.79 per gallon during the day while July heating oil was up 10 cents to $1.78 per gallon and July natural gas gained 41 cents to $4.25 per million British thermal units.