The Financial Post reported that crude oil stockpiles in the United States — not including Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil — unexpectedly rose to 364.52 million barrels last week, an increase of 3.78 million barrels. The jump was caused by increased oil imports and unchanged crude usage.
Bloomberg reports that Oil rose, rebounding from a four- week low.
Oil rose for a second day on Wednesday, after an industry group reported U.S. crude stockpiles dropped for the second week in a row and the dollar declined. Oil has climbed 34 percent this year, tracking global equity markets on optimism that an economic recovery will spur demand for fuel. Additional support for crude prices came from the dollar, which fell to the lowest level against the euro since March, bolstering demand for commodities as a hedge against inflation.
Crude oil fell on Tuesday, snapping four days of gains, on concern a U.S. government report will show stockpiles climbed from the highest level since September 1990. Crude oil for June delivery declined as much as 77 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $53.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil is up 21 per cent this year.
The market in Toronto jumped significantly, in part due to the merger announcement between Suncorp (TSE:SU) and Petro-Canada (TSE:PCA). Petro-Canada was up 20 per cent at the end of the day and many of the other Canadian oil patch companies rose along with it. EnCana (TSE:ECA), Canadian Natural Resources (TSE:CNQ) and Talisman Energy (TSE:TLM) all closed up significantly.
There are enough stockpiles of oil around the world that could see us through any foreseeable calamities on the world market. For more information, click here
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