LONDON, May 16: World oil prices fell on Wednesday after official US government data revealed that American energy inventories jumped higher last week, traders said. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery dipped eight cents to $68.03 per barrel in electronic deals. The contract expires at the close.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, shed 87 cents to $62.30 per barrel in floor trading.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) said in a weekly update on Wednesday that American gasoline or petrol reserves gained 1.7 million barrels to stand at 195.2 million barrels in the week ending May 11.
“The build in gasoline stocks was more than expected,” said Citigroup analyst Tim Evans.
Market expectations had been for a rise of 1 million barrels, after an increase of 400,000 barrels the preceding week. Prior to that rise, the inventories had tumbled over the course of three months. Evans added that Wednesday's data would help relieve market fears of tight gasoline supplies ahead of the so-called US driving season.
Gasoline is in focus as the United States heads into the peak-demand driving season, starting at the end of May, when many Americans take to the roads for their vacations.
The DoE added that US crude oil inventories gained 1 million barrels to reach 342.2m barrels last week. That contrasted with analysts' consensus forecasts for a smaller gain of 125,000 barrels.
Elsewhere, traders tracked events in Nigeria, the world's sixth biggest crude producer and where output has been slashed by about one quarter owing to recent attacks on its energy facilities.
On Wednesday, gunmen seized a child and an undisclosed number of adults from a vehicle in Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt, the police said.
“I learned that a vehicle was snatched early this morning in Port Harcourt.
A child and other occupants were taken away,” Ireju Barasua, police spokeswoman for Rivers State, told AFP.
Home to Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas resources, Port Harcourt and the Niger Delta region have seen an upsurge in kidnappings of foreign and local workers in recent months, mainly connected to the oil industry. —AFP
