WTI crude oil price heads back to $103 a barrel after Wednesday’s losses

WTI crude oil prices edged higher in electronic trading on Thursday, edging back from losses made on Wednesday amid worries about future oil demand trends, fueled by a US government inventories report that showed a higher than expected rise in crude oil supplies.

Latest WTI Oil Price

US Light crude oil futures for May 2012 delivery was trading at $102.76 a barrel, 07.53 GMT today in electronic trading on the NYMEX.

US Oil Inventories

US oil inventories rose by 3.856 million barrels nationwide last week, well beyond the 900,000 barrel rise that analysts expected, according to Wednesday’s data from the US EIA (Energy Information Administration).

US crude oil stocks of 369 million barrels stand at an 11 month high and boast the biggest surplus to the five-year average for this time of year in 22 months, EIA data show.

Some traders said most of the build occurred on the relatively isolated West Coast, but others said a significant build at Cushing, Okla, the delivery point for the benchmark NYMEX crude oil, spurred the drop in prices.

Cushing stocks topped the year earlier level for the first time since last 2011, and hit an 11-month high, ahead of the planned reversal next month of the Seaway pipeline.

That move, which will allow crude to move out of landlocked Midwest terminal to refineries on the Gulf Coast, will create more competition with foreign crudes, and North Sea Brent, the European benchmark, has been feeling the pressure. In late trading Wednesday, ICE Brent crude for June delivery was at its lowest price since mid-February.

Oil Price Spread

US WTI crude oil for May delivery settled yesterday’s trading session 1.5 percent, or $1.53 lower, at $102.67 a barrel. Front month ICE Brent crude for June delivery settled 81 cents lower, at $117.94 a barrel, its lowest price since Feb. 13.

Brent’s premium to the US WTI crude oil was $15.30 a barrel at Wednesday’s settlement, up from $14.58 a day earlier, which was the lowest since Feb. 1. In early April, with Brent oil prices were trading near $125 a barrel, the premium neared $21 a barrel to WTI oil.

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WTI crude oil price heads back to $103 a barrel after Wednesday’s losses