Oil Futures Move Higher
Oil futures prices moved higher Wednesday, with refinery cutbacks advancing gasoline and heating oil prices the limit allowed for daily trading.
American Petroleum Institute figures released late Tuesday “succeeded in removing the first of twin pile drivers” that have pounded the market since November, said Peter Beutel, an analyst in New York with Rudolf Wolf Energy.
“It was one of the most bullish API reports I’ve seen in a heck of a long time.”
The figures showed heating oil demand outpacing production and imports by 735,000 gallons a day and gasoline demand 632,000 gallons a day above supply.
The other pile driver--worldwide oversupply of crude oil--remains unchanged, although there is a meeting set on the crisis for March 16 among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Crude oil settled 47 cents to 93 cents higher with the contract for delivery in April at $14.01 a barrel; heating oil was 2 cents higher, with the April contract, on which there is no limit, settling 2.64 cents higher at 50.21 cents a gallon, and leaded gasoline was 2 cents higher with April up 4.03 cents at 43.75 cents a gallon.
