Oil breaks $62 on inventory drop

• Source: Xinhua
• [18:14 May 21 2009]
• Comments

Crude futures surged Wednesday morning after a government report showed the crude and gasoline inventories declined more than previously forecasted.

The US Energy Department revealed in its weekly report that, during the week ended May 15, the crude supplies fell 2.1 million barrels to 368.5 million barrels, much more than the 400,000 barrels drop analysts had expected.

Meanwhile, gasoline stockpile fell 4.337 million barrels to 204 million barrels. The 2.08 percent drop is also higher than the 1.2 percent drop analysts had forecasted.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose $1.95 to $62.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, refreshing this year's high. Crude futures has been gaining strongly recently as the market eyes possible bottom out of the recession and the coming of the summer driving season.