Oil Holds Under $93, Near Lowest Price of Year
Oil rose slightly Wednesday from its lowest price this year to finish the trading day at just under $93 a barrel, following a Department of Energy report that said supplies rose last week, Bloomberg News reported.
Crude futures rose 13 cents to finish at $92.76 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Tuesday’s $92.63 closing price was the lowest since Dec. 31, Bloomberg said.
DOE reported Wednesday that oil inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels last week. That was in contrast with the 2.5 million-barrel gain that was forecast by analysts, Bloomberg reported.
Gasoline supplies declined by 1.9 million barrels, while distillates — which include diesel and heating oil — rose by 560,000 barrels, DOE said in its weekly inventories report.
Analysts had forecast gasoline supplies to fall by 1 million barrels and distillates to fall by 1.6 million barrels, Bloomberg said.
Diesel and gasoline retail pump prices have risen for six and 10 straight weeks, respectively, with diesel at $4.159 per gallon, its highest level since August 2008, though its increase slowed this week.
