• Oil dropped

Market news

3 April 2013

Oil dropped

Crude extended declines after a government report showed that U.S. oil stockpiles climbed to the highest level in more than 22 years. West Texas Intermediate’s discount to Brent narrowed for a second day.

Futures in New York fell as much 1.8 percent as the Energy Information Administration said supplies rose 2.71 million barrels to 388.6 million last week, the highest level since 1990. The report was projected to show an advance of 2.05 million, according to a survey.

Crude production was unchanged near the highest level since 1992. Output has surged as the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has unlocked supplies trapped in shale formations in states including North Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma.

Crude stockpiles at the U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell 287,000 barrels to 49.2 million last week, according to the EIA, the statistical arm of the Energy Department. Supplies at the hub rose to a record 51.9 million in the week ended Jan. 11.

Gasoline stockpiles decreased by 572,000 barrels to 220.7 million last week, according to the EIA. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, declined 2.27 million barrels to 113 million.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)’s Pegasus pipeline, linking the U.S. Midwest to Texas refineries, will remain shut until regulators are satisfied with repairs. Exxon’s 96,000-barrel-a-day Pegasus pipeline line was closed after a leak was discovered in Arkansas on March 29. The line runs from Patoka, Illinois, to Nederland, Texas, and serves refineries on the Gulf Coast.

WTI oil for May delivery fell to $95.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $96.46 before the release of the report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington.

Brent crude for May settlement declined $1.93, or 1.7 percent, to $108.76 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. 

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