Oil prices rose again Thursday on data suggesting
the US crude glut is easing as the dollar weakened
against the euro.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for June
delivery rose $1.05 to $59.63 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange.
European benchmark Brent oil for June delivery
gained 94 cents to $66.78 a barrel in London.
Analysts said the oil market continued to react to
Wednesday’s US Department of Energy inventory
report, which showed a 500,000 barrel drop in
petroleum stocks to 61.7 million barrels at the key
Cushing, Oklahoma trading hub.
While the decline was modest, it marked the first
drop since late November. Traders are taking the
decline as a sign producers are cutting back at key
US petroleum sites, such as the Bakken region in
North Dakota, analysts said.
“The oil price ‘wants’ to rise – this is the impression
one is bound to gain if one looks at the events that
have taken place on the oil market in recent
weeks,” Commerzbank said.
“Certainly market participants are paying more
attention and responding more to the ‘positive’
rather than to the ‘negative’ reports.”
Oil prices were given an additional upward push by
the retreat in the dollar against the euro and some
other currencies following Wednesday’s US
economic report showing growth of just 0.2 percent
in the first quarter.
A Fed statement Wednesday left open the timing of
an increase as it waits for more signs of economic
progress.
A weak dollar encourages consumption of crude and
other dollar-denominated commodities outside the
US.

One day 1naira will be equal to 1dollar

at least we still have hope