NEW YORK. Crude oil traded near its highest level last two days in New York. This happened after the U.S. government said gasoline stockpiles decline to reach the greatest level in 12 years due to rising demand and rehatnya activities in refining units.
WTI oil contract for May delivery traded up 21 cents to U.S. $ 107.32 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 09:40 Sydney time. Yesterday, the same contract soared 86 cents to as low as U.S. $ 107.11. Meanwhile, Brent oil for completion in May rose 1.6% and end the trading session on the ICE Futures Europe at U.S. $ 122.88 per barrel. It's the highest close since April 11.
The rally came after yesterday's oil, the Energy Department said gasoline stocks fell by 7 million barrels to 209.7 million barrels last week. The decline was the biggest since October 9, 1998. In fact, the market predicts only a 1 million barrel decline because of higher fuel consumption in the last five months.
Analyst natural resources of Weiss Research said Sean Brodrick, high prices have not enough influence on demand, to be able to end the bullish trend. "What is interesting in gasoline stocks which fell seven times greater than people expected," he said.
The increase in oil prices in New York also supported the increase in U.S. retail sales for the month of March. This means that U.S. retail sales figures have risen in nine consecutive months, and showed improvement in the labor market.
Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates oil prices will remain high. Oil futures reasonably be expected to exceed U.S. $ 140 per barrel within the next three months, as the rapid increase in consumption and supply will be cut due to armed conflict in Libya.
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