By: Reuters | 20 May 2009 | 10:47 AM ET
The price of a barrel of oil rose toward $62 Wednesday following official government data that showed a wider-than-expected fall in crude stockpiles last week.
U.S. light, sweet crude [US@CL.1 61.47 1.37 (+2.28%)] rose, and London Brent crude [GB@IB.1 60.14 1.22 (+2.07%)] traded higher.
US commercial crude oil inventories fell 2.1 million barrels for the week ended May 15, compared to the previous week, according to the Energy Information Administration. That's wider than the 0.2-million-barrel draw expected by analysts surveyed by Reuters.
Total motor gasoline inventories fell 4.3 million barrels, compared to the 1.2 million barrel fall expected by analysts. And distillate fuel inventories rose 0.6 million barrels, while analysts had expected an increase of 1 million barrels.
Fire struck gasoline making units at two U.S. refineries this week, triggering a roughly 8 percent spike in U.S. gasoline futures that will likely filter through to retail pumps just as the summer driving season begins.
"It's all on the back of those refinery glitches and some Nigerian scuffle," said Rob Montefusco, an oil trader at Sucden Financial in London.
"All the economic data out this morning has been terrible, but if you strip it back, it's RBOB-led," Montefusco said.
Reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygen blending, or RBOB, was trading at $1.8480 a gallon, up 2.39 percent on the day and its highest level since October 16, 2008.
Unrest in OPEC member Nigeria, Africa's top oil and gas exporter, also drove up prices this week.
Security forces clashed with militants on Tuesday near an oil flow station operated by Chevron in the western Niger Delta.
Italy's biggest oil and gas company ENI SpA on Wednesday declared force majeure for its Brass River export terminal in Nigeria, adding its output affected so far was 9,000 barrels per day.
Falling Stockpiles
Oil prices have been on an upward trend since mid-April on equity-led rallies. They have recovered from below $33 in December after a plunge from record highs above $147 in July.
On Tuesday after oil markets closed industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) released data showing U.S. crude stocks fell by a much larger than expected 4.5 million barrels in the week to May 15.
Commodities markets have closely tracked the stock market in recent months as dealers seek signs of economic health.
Tokyo's Nikkei average was up 0.6 percent at the close, shrugging off data that showed Japan suffered a record contraction in the first quarter.
Oil data out of Tokyo, centre of the world's No. 2 economy, also showed gasoline inventories at their lowest level since September 2007 and kerosene stocks declining to a near three-year low in part due to strong sales.
The Algerian oil minister said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which has agreed to cut 4.2 million bpd of output since September to prop up prices, has no reason to cut output more when it next meets on May 28.
"If the price stays at this level ... I don't think there will be any reason to cut," said Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil in Buenos Aires.
