AP
Oil Prices Edge Past $51 Per Barrel
Thursday May 26, 11:55 pm ET
By Sui-Lee Wee, Associated Press Writer
Oil Prices Edge Past $51 Per Barrel in Asia Ahead of Start of U.S. Summer Driving Season
SINGAPORE (AP) -- Crude futures held above $51 in Asia early Friday as traders moved cautiously ahead of the long U.S. Memorial Day weekend, the start of the American summer driving season.
At midmorning in Singapore, light, sweet crude for June contracts was up 11 cents at US$51.12 a barrel in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Heating oil prices fell marginally to US$1.4435 a gallon (3.8 liters), while unleaded gas rose to US$1.45 a gallon.
"The Memorial Day weekend is fairly significant in the oil market. Certainly, industry participants will be watching the demand of this period very closely," said energy analyst Daniel Hynes of ANZ Bank in Melbourne, Australia.
He said the focus for traders now will be on gasoline supplies, and whether aging U.S. refineries will be able to cope when production is ramped up to meet summer demand.
The American Automobile Association predicted last week a record 36.9 million Americans will travel 80 kilometers (50 miles) or more this Memorial Day weekend, with nearly 85 percent leaving home by motor vehicle.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's latest petroleum data showed U.S. gasoline inventories rose 600,000 barrels to 215.4 million barrels, up from 203.6 million a year ago. Most analysts had predicted a decline in gasoline stocks.
However, crude oil inventories fell 1.6 million barrels to 332.4 million barrels in the week ending May 20 from the previous week.
Despite this, Hynes said the current bearish market sentiment prevails because of long-term builds in crude stocks, which are currently 32.4 million barrels higher than year-ago levels. The decline reported Wednesday was only the second in 15 weeks.
Hynes also said slowing crude demand in Asia and record-high production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would further dampen prices.
Crude prices are about US$7 lower than their all-time high of US$58.28 set April 4.