“West Texas Intermediate crude rose to the highest in a month as Cyprus agreed on an international bailout, allaying concern that Europe’s debt crisis will worsen. WTI narrowed its discount to Brent to the least since July.
Futures climbed as much as 1.1 percent in New York after capping a third weekly gain on March 22. Cyprus agreed on the outlines of an aid package with the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. Iraq will fail to achieve output targets for next year, the chairman of the country’s oil and energy committee said. Global markets are a “little” oversupplied, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Hani Hussain told reporters in the Gulf nation.
“The market has calmed down a bit around Cyprus,” said Thina Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea Bank AG, who predicts Brent crude will average $110 a barrel in the next quarter. “We expect momentum to pick up in the world economy and support demand for oil.”
WTI for May delivery rose as much as 98 cents to $94.69 a barrel in electronic trading on theNew York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Feb. 21, and was at $94.48 as of 12:18 p.m. London time. The volume of all futures traded was 27 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day. The contract advanced $1.26 to $93.71 a barrel on March 22, the highest close since March 18.
