Oil prices rose on Thursday despite a United States report showing that stocks of gasoline, crude and distillate fuels all rose, as markets worried about violence in Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer and a leading supplier to the US.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose 66 cents to $62,21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. Brent crude for June gained 82 cents to $66,02 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Gunmen seized four workers in Nigeria’s southern oil region, officials said on Wednesday. Chevron spokesperson Femi Odumabo said the four were subcontractors with US citizenship.
The kidnappings came just hours after militants staged coordinated attacks on three pipelines in the wetlands region, knocking out nearly 100 000 barrels a day of crude oil.
Italian energy company Eni SpA, whose Agip subsidiary helps operate the network of oil wells and pipelines criss-crossing the vast Niger Delta, said output was cut by 98 000 barrels per day.
Analysts believe armed groups are flexing their muscles ahead of this month’s handover of power to a newly elected government.
Markets were also watching subtropical Atlantic storm Andrea. The first named storm of the year formed on Wednesday off the south-eastern US coast, more than three weeks before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, forecasters said.
Meanwhile, the US Energy Department’s weekly supply snapshot released on Wednesday showed the first rebound for gasoline stocks in three months. Crude inventories built much more than analysts had expected amid growing imports, the report said.
Gasoline stocks rose an average of 400 000 barrels last week to 193,5-million barrels, marking the first increase in 13 consecutive weeks, the report showed. Inventories remain well below levels seen a year ago, however, raising concerns of inadequate supply ahead of the peak demand of the summer driving season.
Unplanned outages and scheduled maintenance at refineries, sluggish imports and strong demand have plagued gasoline stocks since early February. At least a dozen additional partial shutdowns have occurred in the US and internationally that cut refining capacity.
US crude stockpiles rose by 5,6-million barrels to 341,2-million barrels — well above expectations of an 850 000-barrel build in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts. The increase places the stockpiles at the upper end of the average range for this time of year.
Stocks of distillate fuel, which includes diesel and heating oil, rose by 1,7-million barrels to 118,8-million barrels. — Sapa-AP