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Oil prices hovered above $99 a barrel today in Asia after a report showed US crude inventories fell more than expected, suggesting demand may be improving.
Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 26 cents at $99.11 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $2.07 to settle at $99.37 yesterday.
In London, Brent crude for July delivery was up 65 cents at $120.81 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
The American Petroleum Institute said late yesterday that crude inventories fell 3.0 million barrels last week while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had predicted a drop of 1.9 million barrels.
Inventories of gasoline rose 1.1 million barrels last week while distillates fell 426,000 barrels, the API said.
The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration reports its weekly supply data later today.
Crude has zigzagged near $100 since falling from $115 in early May as investors mull signs of a sluggish US economy. Excluding car sales, US retail sales rose 0.3 per cent last month, better than analysts expected.
However, gasoline sales were down 1 per cent last week from a year ago, according to the latest survey by MasterCard SpendingPulse.
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