WTI Crude Trades Near Four-Month High as Cushing Stockpiles Drop

Jalatama ~ West Texas Intermediate oil traded near the highest price in more than four months after an industry report showed inventories fell at the delivery point for benchmark U.S. crude contracts.

Futures were little changed in New York after rising for a second day yesterday. Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, dropped by 1.82 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said. TransCanada Corp. began moving oil from the storage hub to Texas on the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline in January. Cold weather that has bolstered demand for heating fuels is forecast to return next week, according to Commodities Weather Group LLC.

WTI for March delivery was at $103.32 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 1 cent, at 11:50 a.m. Sydney time. The contract, which expires today, climbed 0.9 percent to $103.31 yesterday, the highest settlement since Oct. 8. The volume of all futures traded was about 54 percent below the 100-day average. The more-active April future was down 9 cents at $102.75.

Brent for April settlement gained 1 cent to settle at $110.47 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The European benchmark crude closed at a premium of $7.63 to WTI for the same month.

Distillate inventories, including heating oil and diesel, declined by 676,000 barrels in the week ended Feb. 14, the API said in Washington yesterday. An Energy Information Administration report today is projected to show supplies declined by 2.1 million, according to the median estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey.

(Source: Bloomberg)