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1st LD Writethru: Oil prices jump despite rising U.S. inventories

Xinhua, October 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Oil prices spiked Wednesday although data showed U.S. crude stockpiles added last week.

U.S. crude supplies of last week gained 3.4 million barrels to 480 million barrels, 100.2 million barrels more than a year ago, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report released on Wednesday.

The new inventory data is generally in line with market expectation. However, the market moved up as traders believed the maintenance season of U.S. refiners was winding down and that refineries started to boost operating rates.

U.S. refiners typically slow during September and October to perform maintenance during a low fuel demand period.

The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery moved up 2.74 U.S. dollars to settle at 45.94 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Wednesday's gain was the largest for U.S. crude since Aug. 31.

Meanwhile, Brent crude for December delivery increased 2.24 dollars to close at 49.05 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

The oil prices had been sliding since early October and reached their lowest level in two months Tuesday.

The EIA data also showed that inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the U.S. contract, lost 0.78 million barrels to 53.33 million barrel.

U.S. crude production added 16,000 to 9.112 million barrels a day last week, according to the EIA's report. Endit