Price of oil rises to nearly $94 a barrel as US supplies of oil shrank
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Oil rose Thursday to nearly $94 per barrel on the heels of a big drop in U.S. oil supplies, but analysts didn't expect to see prices take off.
Benchmark oil for July delivery was up 21 cents to $93.95 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 43 cents to close at $93.74 a barrel the day before.
The Energy Department on Wednesday said U.S. crude oil inventories shrank by 6.3 million barrels in the week ended May 31, thanks to a sharp drop in imports. Analysts expected a drop of 1 million barrels. Separately, the American Petroleum Institute said stockpiles shrank by 464,000 to 387.3 million barrels. Tighter supplies tend to push oil prices higher.
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Still, oil prices were expected to stay within a tight range for now, as supplies are ample and demand remains restrained by a tepid global economic recovery.
"The market has been stuck in neutral for some time and it's hard to see how any analyst can be as so bold to see a major move on the chart forming in the near term," said Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinions in a market commentary.
In other markets, Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, rose 5 cents to $103.09 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
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In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
— Wholesale gasoline rose 0.5 cents at $2.828 a gallon.
— Heating oil rose 0.3 cent to $2.858 per gallon.
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— Natural gas was down 0.8 cent to $3.993 per 1,000 cubic feet.