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1st LD Writethru: Oil prices rise amid positive demand forecast

Xinhua, May 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Oil prices gained Thursday as market expected rising demand will ease the supply glut.

Domestic demand for oil is expected to see a sharp rise as the United States is embracing its highest travel volume during the Memorial Day holiday in a decade, according to American Automobile Association (AAA). The Memorial Day holiday travel period lasted from Thursday to Monday.

AAA projected 37.2 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, a 4.7 percent increase from the 35.5 million people who traveled last year and the highest travel volume for the holiday in 10 years.

Kicking off the summer driving season, 33 million travelers will be driving to their destinations.

Lower crude production also boosted oil. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday in its weekly report that U.S. crude supplies of last week decreased 2.7 million barrels to 482.2 million, 90.9 million barrels more than a year earlier. U.S. crude production retreated 112,000 barrels to 9.262 million barrels a day.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery moved up 1.74 U.S. dollars to settle at 60.72 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery moved up 1.51 dollars to close at 66.54 dollars a barrel. Endite