Oil prices jumped today as a US government report showed crude stocks falling for the first time in 10 weeks and gasoline inventory dropping ahead of peak summer driving demand.
US light crude rose 71 cents to $53.00 a barrel, barely $5 below the record high of $58.28 reached early this month.
Prices jumped $1.92, or nearly 4 per cent in New York yesterday, ending a two-week slide.
London Brent crude gained $1.10 to $54.04 a barrel. Prices jumped after the US Energy Information Administration said that crude stocks, which have been at the highest level in nearly three years, dropped 1.8 million barrels to 318.9 million last week.
Gasoline stocks also fell, by 1.5 million barrels to 211.6 barrels, the EIA said. Gasoline prices have already rallied on a spate of refinery problems in Kansas, Louisiana, and Texas, which dealers said could sap a supply buffer ahead of the summer driving season when demand for gasoline peaks.
The refinery glitches sent US unleaded gasoline on up by 5 per cent yesterday.