The Energy Department said that US crude-oil inventories rose 5.67 million barrels to 366.7 million previous week, the highest since September 1990. The International Energy Agency reported that worldwide consumption will contract by 2.8% this year as the global economy contracts.
Oil in New York has drooped 66% from a record $147.27 a barrel in July 2008 as the recession in major consuming nations restrained fuel demand.
US fuel demand in the first quarter of 2009 dropped to the lowest for the period in 11 years, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said. Deliveries of petroleum products, a measure of consumption, averaged 19.2 million barrels a day, 3.4% less than during the same period in 2008, API said.
Oil futures are up 12% until now this year. Crude gained as much as 2.5% yesterday after the Labor Department reported that claims diminished by 53,000 to 610,000 in the week ended April 11, 2009.
Brent crude oil for June 2009 settlement was at $52.94 a barrel, down 12 cents, at 11:35 a.m. Singapore time on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange.
