US Light crude nudges $100 mark as supply concerns lift oil prices

US Light crude oil futures edged back up in trading on Friday, nudging the $100 a barrel mark for the first time since mid October as as tight supplies, including US crude stock draws and production outages, kept market players buying into the black gold.

Latest WTI Oil Price

US Light crude oil futures for February 2014 delivery ended Friday’s session at $99.18 a barrel on the NYMEX. The January 2014 WTI oil futures contract expired on Thursday.

Falling US Oil Inventories

The crude oil market has been buoyed by Wednesday’s US oil inventories report, which showed draws in crude oil stocks for a third week in a row. Analysts at BNP Paribas said that the 2.9 million barrel draw in US crude stocks had been driven by higher refinery demand, as plants are ramping up following the completion of seasonal maintenance.

The draw was less than market expectations of a 4 million-barrel decline, but was in line with figures reported late Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which showed a 2.5 million-barrel stock draw.

Despite the overall draw, crude oil stocks were at a surplus to the five-year average of 10.2 percent, or 34.4 million barrels. US refinery run rates totalling 91.5 percent of capacity the week ended December 13, down 1.1 percentage points from the week prior.

Over the last three weeks, US crude oil stocks have fallen by 18 million barrels which maybe a large factor driving US oil prices back to the magic $100 a barrel mark.

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US Light crude nudges $100 mark as supply concerns lift oil prices