Oil rose for a second day in New York after an industry report showed U.S. stockpiles fell, raising optimism that fuel demand has increased as the economic crisis abated. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday that inventories declined 1.01 million barrels to 370.2 million last week, the first drop since March 6. Stock markets in the U.S. and Asia climbed after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said banks have enough capital. “The API data showing a decrease will be supportive in the short term,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives sales manager at Newedge in Tokyo. “A lot of people think this market will be higher by the end of this year. So if the market goes down they think this is the time to buy back in.” Crude oil for June delivery rose as much as 54 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $49.09 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $48.78 at 12:59 p.m. Singapore time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 2.1 percent to 850.08 yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.6 percent to 7,969.56. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2 percent to 88.50 at 12:14 p.m. in Tokyo. The gauge has climbed 25 percent from a five-year low on March 9. API, DOE An Energy Department report today will probably show U.S. crude oil supplies climbed 2.5 million barrels last week, according to the median of 15 responses in a Bloomberg News survey. Inventories rose 5.67 million barrels to 366.7 million in the week ended April 10, the highest since 1990 and 13 percent greater than the five-year average for the period. The Energy Department will probably show that gasoline stockpiles dropped 700,000 barrels from 216.5 million the prior week, according to the Bloomberg survey. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, probably fell 1 million barrels from 139.6 million barrels. API collects information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The Energy Department requires reports to be filed for its weekly supply survey. Oil-supply totals from the API and DOE moved in the same direction 76 percent of the time over the past four years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Brent crude oil for June settlement rose as much as 39 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $50.21 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe Exchange. It was at $50.05 a barrel at 12:57 p.m. Singapore time. The contract fell 4 cents yesterday to $49.82 a barrel. Asian Demand Japan’s crude oil imports fell in March for a fifth month as declining industrial output cut auto and heating fuel demand from manufacturers and households. Japan, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer, shipped in 18.16 million kiloliters, or about 3.68 million barrels a day, last month, down 18.4 percent from a year earlier, a finance ministry preliminary trade report released in Tokyo shows. South Korea, Asia’s biggest buyer of crude oil after China and Japan, said domestic consumption of oil products fell 2.4 percent in March. The nation used 66.6 million barrels of oil products last month, down from 68.3 million barrels a year earlier, according to data e-mailed today by state-run Korea National Oil Corp.

Source