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Oil prices hovered above $107 a barrel today in Asia as a large drop in US gasoline supplies suggested the two-month crude rally hasn’t yet undermined consumer demand.
Benchmark crude for May delivery was up 15 cents at $107.26 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 86 cents to settle at $ 107.11 yesterday.
In London, Brent crude for May delivery was down 38 cents to $122.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
The Energy Information Administration yesterday reported US gasoline supplies fell by 7 million barrels last week, a bigger drop than the 1.3 million barrels forecast by analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
“As gasoline stocks plunged, a major dent was placed in the argument that high prices are beginning to deter demand,” Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report.
The EIA also said crude supplies rose by 1.6 million barrels last week to 359.3 million barrels, which is 1.5 per cent above year-ago levels.
In other Nymex trading in May contracts, heating oil dropped 0.1 cents to $3.20 a gallon and gasoline fell 0.5 cents to $3.24 a gallon. Natural gas futures were down 0.2 cents at $4.13/1,000 cubic feet.
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