Oil tops $93 a barrel
NEW YORK The price of oil rose for a fourth straight day Tuesday and topped $93 for the first time this month.
At midday in New York, benchmark oil for April delivery was up 74 cents to $92.80 per barrel after earlier rising to $93.47.
Oil has now risen nearly 3 percent in the last four trading sessions. Whether it maintains that momentum could depend on this week's reports on U.S. oil supplies.
- Hess to stop pumping gas
- Exxon Mobil predicts lower production
- Ford records record sales of natural gas vehicles
Many traders believe the large supply of oil in the U.S. has kept a lid on prices. Last week the Energy Department said that the nation's supply of crude is 10.3 percent above year-ago levels. And U.S. oil production, at more than 7 million barrels a day, is at the highest level since the late 1990s.
Data for the week ending March 8 is expected to show a build of 2.3 million barrels in crude oil stocks and a draw of 1.5 million barrels in gasoline stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill (MHP).
The American Petroleum Institute will release its report on oil stocks later Tuesday, while the report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration - the market benchmark - will be out on Wednesday.
U.S. gas pump prices have leveled off at $3.70 a gallon, according to AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That's down 8 cents since the start of March and 10 cents cheaper than a year ago.
Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by U.S. refineries, was down 9 cents to $109.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
- Wholesale gasoline was unchanged at $3.15 a gallon.
- Heating oil fell 1 cent to $2.95 a gallon.
- Natural gas rose 1 cent to $3.66 per 1,000 cubic feet.