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Oil Continues to Soar; Tops $96 in Intraday Trading
Crude oil continued to soar, rising to more than $96 a barrel early Thursday, following Wednesday's Energy Department report that showed lower supplies, Bloomberg reported.
Benchmark light sweet crude futures rose by more than $4 Wednesday — the biggest increase since January — to close at $94.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a closing record, Bloomberg said.
In before-market Nymex trading Thursday, futures rose to $96.24 a barrel, a record, Bloomberg said. Oil closed at more than $90 for the first time last Thursday and has since remained over that level.
Wednesday’s increase followed DOE’s weekly inventory report that showed crude supplies fell by 3.9 million barrels last week, down 7.5% from a year ago and leaving supplies at their lowest levels in two years.
Gasoline inventories rose 1.3 million barrels last week, while distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, gained 800,000 barrels, DOE said in its weekly report.
