Oil climbs above $52 per barrel on support from US fuel stocks

Zee Media Bureau

London: Supported by drop in US fuel inventories, oil price climbed above $52 per barrel on Friday. It comes at a time when OPEC is mulling over a plan to reduce oil production. It was on Monday when brent crude climbed to $54 mark after OPEC nations decided to cut down on oil production.

Global benchmark Brent rose 39 cents to $52.42 by 0859 GMT, with U.S. crude up 57 cents at $51.01.

U.S. inventories of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 3.7 million barrels, the government`s weekly supply report said on Thursday. Gasoline stocks fell by 1.9 million barrels. [EIA/S]

"The end result was slightly positive," Stephen Brennock, of broker PVM, said in a report, referring to Thursday`s U.S. supply data. The rise in crude stocks was "more than offset" by lower fuel inventories, he said. 

Stocks at the Cushing delivery hub for U.S. crude also declined, but crude inventories overall rose by 4.9 million barrels, the first increase in six weeks.

U.S. crude`s structure gained support from the extended outage of a pipeline capable of delivering 450,000 barrels per day of crude into Cushing, traders said..

OPEC`s plan is to cut its supply to between 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd) and 33 million bpd to help to balance supply and demand and revive prices that remain less than half of the levels reached in mid-2014.