By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- Crude oil futures gained in electronic trading on Wednesday, amid post-election violence Nigeria and ahead of a key U.S. inventory report.
Benchmark light sweet crude for June delivery CLM11 +0.62% advanced 76 cents, or 0.7%, to $109.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil prices have improved by more than 19% this year, according to data from FactSet.
Crude prices jumped sharply in February amid geopolitical tension in the oil-producing Middle East and North Africa which resulted in the suspension of Libyan oil production.
Violence broke out in Nigeria following weekend elections, with at least 33 people killed in post-election rioting, Reuters reported Wednesday.
“Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil producer, with a daily output of 1.9 million barrels. Its oil is also a suitable substitute for Libyan oil,” noted analysts at Commerzbank. “If production losses occurred in Nigeria as well, the result would be a shortage of high-quality oil,” they said.
Late Tuesday the American Petroleum Institute reported crude-oil inventories rose 667,000 barrels in the week ended April 15. The reading missed analysts forecasts for an increase around 1.6 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts.
On Wednesday the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration reports data and analysts expect crude supplies to rise by 700,000 barrels, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires.
