Crude oil futures rose Wednesday after declining to their lowest in 12 weeks on Tuesday, according to an article published on MarketWatch.com. Light, sweet crude oil for June delivery rose 86 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $97.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours. Earlier, oil had closed out the North American session at its lowest level since February 22. Concerns about U.S. demand, due to weak housing data, contributed to Tuesday’s downward price pressure. According to the American Petroleum Institute (API) inventory report, crude oil supplies rose 2.7 million barrels in the week that ended May 13, gasoline stocks declined 676,000 barrels and stockpiles of distillates were down 2.8 million. A report from the Department of Energy is due later Wednesday. According to MarketWatch.com, analysts at Barclays Capital say the U.S. remains the focal point of the energy market. Supply disruptions due to flooding along the Mississippi River will likely pressure stock-builds, the analysts added. “The recent floods and power outages have created an illusion of severe weakness in underlying demand. While growth rates are slowing down, underlying U.S. oil demand for May is ultimately likely to turn out stronger than the apparent consumption figures show,” the analysts said. Meanwhile, the dollar declined during Asian trading hours, encouraging buying in dollar-priced commodities. The dollar index dropped to 75.159 from 75.412 on in late North American trading Tuesday
