Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Oil spikes as demand rises

Oil prices jumped Wednesday, after a closely-watched report showed a smaller than expected increase in oil supplies and a dip in gasoline inventory.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery jumped $1.46 to $82.95 U.S. after the Energy Information Administration's report was released Wednesday.

The EIA report showed that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.4 million barrels, below analyst estimates of 2.1 million barrels, according to a survey from research firm Platts.

Gasoline and distillate inventories fell by 2.9 million and 2.2 million barrels, respectively. Those inventories fell more sharply than analysts expected, indicating more demand.

According to Platts, analysts expected gas inventories to drop 338,000 barrels and distillates to fall 950,000.