Oil Pares Gain After U.S. Crude Inventories Rise to 86-Year High
Oil pared gains after a government report showed U.S. crude inventories advanced to an 86-year high as imports surged.
Crude stockpiles rose 2.15 million barrels to 504.1 million last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. Imports climbed 11 percent, the biggest gain since April. Prices climbed earlier as Iran cautiously supported a proposal by Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze production at near-record levels.
"We have ample crude stockpiles and are still accumulating more," said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York. "The main cause of the inventory gain was the rebound in imports from the low level of the prior week."
Oil is down about 17 percent this year after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries abandoned output targets in early December and U.S. crude inventories swelled. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh didn’t say if the country, the second-biggest OPEC producer before sanctions were intensified in 2012, would deviate from plans to boost exports after the lifting of restrictions last month.
West Texas Intermediate for March delivery traded 40 cents, or 1.3 percent, higher at $31.06 a barrel as of 12:30 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract advanced as much as $1.32 to $31.98 earlier. Total volume traded was 28 percent above the 100-day average.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-17/oil-extends-gain-as-iran-backs-output-freeze-without-vowing-cuts