WTI Oil Trades Near Two-Day Low as U.S. Crude Stockpiles Climb

WTI Oil Trades Near Two-Day Low as U.S. Crude Stockpiles Climb
By Ben Sharples

West Texas Intermediate oil traded near the lowest level in two days after U.S. crude stockpiles rose almost five times more than forecast. The Brent pipeline system remained shut a fifth day.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-06/wti-oil-trades-near-two-day-low-as-u-s-crude-stockpiles-climb.html

WTI futures were little changed after slipping for the fourth day in five yesterday. U.S. crude supplies increased 3.8 million barrels last week, compared with a projected 788,000 barrel gain in a Bloomberg News survey, an Energy Information Administration report showed. It’s unclear when the Brent network will resume, said an official from Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA) PJSC, the operator known as Taqa.

WTI for April delivery was at $90.47 a barrel, up 4 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:51 a.m. Sydney time. The volume of all futures traded was 60 percent below the 100-day average. The contract slid 39 cents to $90.43 yesterday, the lowest close since Feb. 4.

Brent for April settlement dropped 55 cents to $111.06 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The European benchmark grade closed at a premium of $20.63 to WTI futures, narrowing for the first time in five days.

U.S. crude supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the country’s biggest oil-storage hub, climbed 257,000 barrels to 50.8 million last week, the highest level in a month, according to the EIA report. Inventories of gasoline and distillates, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, declined.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-06/wti-oil-trades-near-two-day-low-as-u-s-crude-stockpiles-climb.html