LONDON, April 5: World oil prices rebounded to $67.0 per barrel on Wednesday after official data revealed a sharp fall in stockpiles of US gasoline. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, climbed 77 cents to $67.0 per barrel in pit trading.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery gained 81 cents to $67.20 per barrel in electronic trade.

US crude oil inventories rose over the past week to a seven-year high but supplies of gasoline (petrol) staged a surprise fall, government data showed.

The Department of Energy said crude oil reserves increased by 2.1 million barrels in the week to March 31 to total 342.8 million barrels. Analysts had predicted a rise of about half that.

US crude stocks are up nearly eight per cent from a year ago, and now stand at their highest level since April 1999.

However, the DoE also reported that motor gasoline stocks dived by 4.4 million barrels to 211.8 million barrels, far more than the consensus fall expected by analysts of 1.4 million barrels.

Following the latest data “the initial (market) reaction was to rally on the magnitude of the gasoline stocks” fall, said Societe Generale analyst Deborah White.

Stocks of gasoline are in focus ahead of the US driving season beginning in May.

Gasoline supply concerns will be compounded in May, when the DoE’s new gasoline specifications come into force, requiring oil refiners to replace the gasoline additive MTBE with ethanol, seen as less harmful to the environment.

Meanwhile, over the past four weeks, gasoline demand in the United States has gone up 0.9 per cent compared with the same period last year.—AFP