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Oil Hit A Seven-Month High

Oil Hit A Seven-Month High

Gold Silver Reports — Oil hit a seven-month high in New York on speculation that U.S. crude stockpiles declined last week while supply losses in Canada and Nigeria whittled away the global excess.

West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 1.2 percent. U.S. crude inventories probably fell by 3.5 million barrels, before government data Wednesday. It would be the first consecutive weekly decrease since September. Wildfires in Canada came to within a kilometer of an Enbridge Inc. oil-sands terminal as warm weather and wind spread the flames.

“The thrust in the oil market is that the supply glut is starting to be eradicated,” said Gene McGillian, a senior analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “Falling production and rising demand are expected to wipe out the excess supply that sent us to 12-year lows.”

Oil prices have advanced more than 80 percent from a 12-year low earlier this year on signs the global glut will ease as U.S. production declines. The market has moved into an output deficit earlier than expected following supply disruptions in Nigeria and an increase in demand, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

WTI for June delivery increased 59 cents to settle at $48.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the highest close since Oct. 9. Prices are up 30 percent this year.

Crude Stockpiles

Futures climbed from the settlement after the American Petroleum Institute was said to report U.S. crude supplies slipped 1.14 million barrels last week. WTI traded at $48.48 at 4:39 p.m in New York.

Brent for July settlement rose 31 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $49.28 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was the highest close since Nov. 3. The global benchmark oil ended the session at a 29-cent premium to July WTI.

Commodity companies accounted for four of the six biggest gainers on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The S&P 500 Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Index rose 1.4 percent to the highest since May 2.

U.S. crude stockpiles still remain near the highest level in more than eight decades. Gasoline supplies and stockpiles of distillate fuel probably declined by 1 million barrels each last week, according to the Bloomberg survey before Wednesday’s report.

Gasoline futures for June delivery rose 1.7 percent to $1.6341 a gallon, the highest settlement since Aug. 31. June diesel climbed 1.9 percent to $1.4674, the highest close since Nov. 10.

Canadian Fires

The Alberta fires have reduced output by about 1.2 million barrels a day, according to new estimates from the Conference Board of Canada. The research group says 14 days of production cuts represent an economic hit of about C$985 million ($761 million) to the provincial economy.

“The longer these outages last, the quicker the pace of rebalancing,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consultants Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. “Persistent crude stock draws will begin by the end of the second quarter.”

Oil-market news:

Competing administrations of Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp. in the east and west of the divided country agreed to resume exports from Hariga port to help revive production.

Nigerian crude output is down 300,000 barrels a day from the start of the year at 1.6 million barrels a day, the lowest in 22 years, Barclays said in note.

Venezuela is offering oil at the biggest discounts in seven years as the third-largest supplier to U.S. refineries fights to defend its market share from Canadian and Middle Eastern grades.

A freeze on oil output is needed to stabilize prices, Salah Khebri, minister of energy and mines for Algeria, said in an interview in Amman.  — Neal Bhai Reports

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Neal Bhai has been involved in the Bullion and Metals markets since 1998 – he has experience in many areas of the market from researching to trading and has worked in Delhi, India. Mobile No. - 9899900589 and 9582247600

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