Crude oil continued to shoot higher Wednesday due to stronger demand from the world's largest economy in the winter, pushing prices to the highest in four month.
The energy markets are adding to yesterday's gains, benefiting from dollar volatility against the backdrop of poor US economic data ahead of tomorrow's Petroleum status report by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which could hint a bigger drop in stockpiles due to winter demand and new pipeline capacity, and probably underpinning the recent surge in oil prices. As of 02:55 ET:
- NYMEX WTI Cruderose 0.32% to $102.76 a barrel
- ICE Brent Crude fell 0.20% to $110.24 a barrel
WTI futures are trading at the highest level this year, levels not seen since October as well.
Obvioulsy the tightening spread between the WTI and Brent is offering further strength to the rally. But the premium is expected to remain volatile.
In London, Brent futures stood above $110 a barrel, buoyed by geopolitical fears of oil suuply disruption in the wake of social unrest in South Sudan and Libya and Venezuela.
The American Petroleum Institute's weekly petroleum report will be due today at 04:30 ET.The EIA's report will be released Thursday at 11:00 ET.