By Nicole Friedman
NEW YORK--Oil futures advanced to a six-week high Thursday as
traders turned their focus from rising U.S. stockpiles to the
continued drawdown of supplies from a storage hub in Oklahoma,
where the benchmark U.S. contract is priced.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled up 54 cents, or
0.5%, at $104.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the
highest price since March 3. Prices rose 0.5% on the week.
Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange lost 7 cents, or 0.1%,
to settle at $109.53 a barrel. Prices are up 2% for the week.
Both the Nymex and ICE trading floors are closed Friday.
U.S. crude-oil stockpiles rose by 10 million barrels last week,
the biggest one-week increase since 2001, the U.S. Energy
Information Administration said Wednesday. However, supplies fell
in Cushing, Okla., a key storage hub and the delivery point for the
Nymex contract.
Cushing stocks are at their lowest level since 2009, sparking
some concern that supplies could fall too low in some storage
facilities for the oil to be easily pumped out.
"Nationwide, there's ample crude stocks, but at the delivery
point for the futures contract, there isn't," said Andy Lebow,
senior vice president for energy derivatives at Jefferies Bache
LLC.
Because the May contract is nearing expiration, concerns about
physical delivery in Cushing are boosting the market, he said. The
May Nymex contract expires at settlement April 22.
Gasoline supplies fell slightly last week to 210.3 million
barrels, the lowest level since November, the EIA said. Stocks are
"lower than they ought to be for this time of year," ahead of the
summer-driving season, Mr. Lebow said.
Front-month May reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, rose
1.42 cents, or 0.5%, to $3.0547 a gallon, the highest price since
Aug. 29, 2012. Prices are up 1.3% for the week.
Meanwhile, Brent futures fell slightly as Ukraine and Russia
agreed to "initial concrete steps to de-escalate tensions and
restore security for all citizens," including demobilizing
militias, vacating seized Ukrainian government buildings and
establishing a political overhaul program. However, President
Vladimir Putin didn't rule out sending Russian troops into
Ukraine.
Oil prices have been buoyed by concerns that escalating tensions
between Russia and Ukraine could lead to further western sanctions
on Russia, which could crimp Russian oil exports.
May diesel fell 0.24 cent, or 0.1%, to settle at $3.0082 a
gallon. Prices rose 2.6% this week.
--Lukas I. Alpert and Andrey Ostroukh contributed to this
article
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com
More information on settlements and highs and lows for futures
on Nymex and ICE platforms can be found by searching for the
following headlines:
Nymex Light Crude Oil Close
Nymex Harbor RBOB Gasoline Close
Nymex Heating Oil Close
ICE Brent Crude Oil Close
ICE Gas Oil Close