Crude prices jump despite weak demand

Crude oil prices were higher Thursday, in a shortened trading session due to the Christmas holidays, as the Labor Department issued new data showing that there were 28,000 fewer new jobless claims filed last week in the United States.

February contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude ended the session $1.38 higher to $78.05 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for February added 86 cents to $76.31 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The gains came even though there is little evidence in recent data to show that demand for oil and oil products is recovering.

The US Energy Information Administration reported that stockpiles of natural gas in the 48 lower US states fell by 166 billion cubic feet last week, to 3.4 trillion cubic feet last week, against an expected decline of between 171 and 175 billion cubic feet.

This decline left natural gas in storage 11.8 percent above last year’s level at this time and 13.1 percent above the five-year average, showing demand by industry is weak, while distillates in storage, including heating oil, are 26 million barrels over last year’s levels despite cold weather in many parts of the US.

Nymex January gasoline and February crude oil futures each added 2 cents on the session, to $1.99 per gallon and $2.06 per gallon respectively, while the new numbers on natural gas stockpiles send March futures down 17 cents to $5.69 per million British thermal units.

Meanwhile, the retail price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States remained steady at $2.584 per gallon on average nationally.