LP:WTI oil price trading near $106 after smaller than expected increase in US inventories
The price of WTI oil futures open’s Thursday’s trading session near $106 a barrel after a smaller than expected increase in US crude inventories help keep the US oil contract well above the $100 a barrel mark.
Latest WTI Oil Price
US Light crude oil futures for April 2012 delivery was trading at $105.93 a barrel, 07.29 GMT today in electronic trading on the NYMEX.
EIA Weekly Oil Report
The US EIA (Energy Information Administration) said on Wednesday that US crude oil supplies rose 1.8 million in the week ended March 9. Analysts polled had expected an increase of 2.1 million barrels. The EIA also said gasoline stockpiles decreased 1.4 million barrels and inventories of distillates declined 4.7 million barrels.
The analysts surveyed by Platts had expected a decline of 1.4 million barrels for gasoline supplies and a decrease of 1.5 million barrels for distillates.
Bumpy Ride for Oil Prices
Meanwhile, in its monthly report on the global oil portfolio, the IEA (International Energy Agency) said oil markets face a “bumpy ride” because of current and anticipated supply disruptions amid shrinking spare production capacity in OPEC member countries, and tighter inventories in Europe and the Pacific.
The IEA left its 2012 demand projection unchanged from the month before, at 89.9 million barrels per day. It said OPEC oil supply rose by 315,000 barrels per day in February, led by a three decade peak in Saudi Arabian output, and that non OPEC supply rose at an annualised rate of 300,000 barrels per day.
