By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Benchmark U.S. crude-oil futures rose in East Asian hours Wednesday on a decrease in inventories and a weaker dollar.
Crude for May delivery CLK2 +0.60% — the new front-month contract — rose 0.4%, or 47 cents, to $106.54 in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported crude stocks fell 1.371 million barrels, or 1.4%, in the week ended March 16, while gasoline stocks fell 1.392 million barrels.
The report preceded the more closely watched Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, due out later Wednesday.
Crude also got a boost from a softer U.S. dollar, with the ICE dollar index DXY -0.25% slipping to 79.397, down from 79.582 in late North American trading Tuesday.
The rise in Nymex crude came on the heels of a 2.3% drop for the expiring April contract on Tuesday. See report on Tuesday’s oil moves.
Gasoline rose more modestly, with the April contract RBJ2 +0.29% edging 1 cent higher to $3.37 a gallon.
In a note Tuesday, Citi cited the acting administrator of the EIA as warning of higher gasoline prices if Sunoco Inc. SUN -1.29% shuts a 335,000 barrel-per-day Pennsylvania refinery.
Sunoco has said it would close the facility if it doesn’t find a buyer by July 1, according to Citi.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, April heating oil HOJ2 +0.29% traded flat at $3.24 a gallon, while natural gas for April NGJ12 +0.09% slipped 1 cent to $2.33 per million British thermal units.
Michael Kitchen is Asia editor for MarketWatch and is based in Los Angeles.
