“West Texas Intermediate rose a second day after China reported inflation eased more than forecast last month. U.S. crude stockpiles probably increased to the highest level in 22 years, a Bloomberg survey showed.
Futures gained as much as 0.5 percent in New York after advancing the most in almost two weeks yesterday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) said it expects supplies at the U.S. delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, to shrink at the end of next month, and pushed back its recommendation for trading the discount on WTI versus Brent. U.S. crude inventories climbed by 1.5 million barrels in the week to April 5 to 390 million, according to a Bloomberg News survey before data from the Energy Department Administration tomorrow.
“Any healthy demand for oil will have to come from Asia or the Middle East,” said Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management in Middelfart, Denmark. “Hopes for a Chinese money bazooka have increased.”
WTI for May delivery advanced as much as 46 cents to $93.82 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $93.70 at 9:15 a.m. London time. The volume of all futures traded was 22 percent below the 100-day average. The contract increased 66 cents to $93.36 yesterday, the biggest gain since March 26 and the highest close since April 3. Prices dropped 4.7 percent last week.
Brent for May settlement rose 43 cents to $105.09 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark grade was at a premium of $11.39 to WTI futures. The spread was $11.30 at the close of trading yesterday, the narrowest gap since June 22.
