SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose on Thursday, extending two days of increases as supply disruptions in Libya lifted the market, although bloated US crude inventories curbed gains.
Prices for front-month Brent crude futures , the international benchmark for oil, were at $52.53 per barrel at 06:59 GMT, up 11 cents from their last close.
In the United States, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 17 cents to $49.67 a barrel. The increases extended two days of gains which supported Brent well above $50 a barrel and lifted WTI within sight of that level.
Traders said supply disruptions in Libya were lifting the market and that falling US gasoline inventories pointed to a tightening market there despite record crude stocks.
“While crude stocks did build, the build was significantly lower than expected. Product stocks, on the other hand, drew a lot more than expected. This information, combined with the supply disruption in Libya was good enough to give the market cause to buy eagerly,” said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta.
US gasoline stocks fell 3.7 million barrels in the week ending March 24, compared with expectations for a 1.9-million barrel drop, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
US crude inventories , however, rose 867,000 barrels to a record of nearly 534 million barrels.
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