Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Brent Gains for First Day in Three on Libya, Ukraine; WTI Steady

By Ben Sharples and Grant Smith 
Brent crude rose for the first time in three days as violence in Ukraine escalated and unrest continued to curb Libyan supplies. West Texas Intermediate was steady before inventory data.
Futures climbed as much as 0.4 percent in London. Ukraine said it will press on with military operations after its forces regained control of Donetsk airport and inflicted “significant” losses on pro-Russian separatists. The U.S. advised its citizens to leave Libya because of clashes between armed groups in the OPEC member nation. U.S. government data tomorrow will probably show crude stockpiles rose last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
“The unrest in both Libya and Ukraine continues” to support oil prices, Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management Ltd. in Middelfart, Denmark, said by e-mail.
Brent for July settlement increased as much as 38 cents to $110.40 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $110.26 at 11:36 a.m. London time. The contract fell 30 cents to $110.02 yesterday. The volume of all futures traded was about 50 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day. Prices have gained 2 percent this month.
WTI for July delivery was 22 cents higher at $104.33 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. benchmark crude was at a discount of $5.92 to Brent on ICE. The spread closed at $5.91 yesterday, the narrowest in six weeks.
Credit: Bloomberg.com

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