By Nicole Friedman
NEW YORK--Crude-oil prices fell from a six-week intraday high to
end near flat Wednesday after government data showed the biggest
one-week increase in U.S. crude-oil supplies in 13 years.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled up a penny at
$103.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from an
overnight high of $104.99 a barrel. Brent crude on ICE Futures
Europe rose 24 cents, or 0.2%, at $109.60 a barrel, a six-week
high.
Crude-oil stockpiles rose by 10 million barrels last week to
394.1 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration
said Wednesday. Analysts had expected stocks to rise by 1.5 million
barrels on the week, according to a Wall Street Journal survey.
The increase, the biggest one-week gain in crude stocks since
March 2001, highlighted concerns that booming U.S. production of
light crude is overwhelming refineries' capacity to process it.
"We're sitting on a lot of crude oil, but it's not necessarily
the right crude oil," said Stephen Schork, editor of energy trade
publication The Schork Report.
U.S. production of crude oil has surged in recent years, as new
technologies have enabled producers to access supplies trapped in
shale-oil fields. But many refineries are designed to process
heavier grades of crude, which have to be imported, and the U.S.
currently can't export most of its crude oil. Stockpiles rose last
week even as refineries lifted their utilization rates.
A new pipeline connecting a storage hub in Oklahoma to
refineries on the Gulf Coast has allowed crude oil that was stuck
in storage to move south, but demand for that oil has been tepid.
Supplies in Cushing, Okla., fell to their lowest level since 2009
last week, the EIA said, while storage levels in the Gulf Coast hit
an all-time high on data going back to 1990.
Domestic oil production and imports increased week-over-week.
The biggest gain in imports was to the West Coast, which also saw a
significant supply build. Due to limited pipeline and rail
capacity, the West Coast oil market is largely disconnected from
the rest of the U.S. and often has little impact on benchmark U.S.
futures, which are priced in Cushing.
To be sure, refineries ran at just 88.8% of capacity last week
due to seasonal maintenance. Utilization typically rises in the
late spring as refineries produce gasoline ahead of the summer
driving season.
Brent oil, the international benchmark, was buoyed by
geopolitical concerns that ongoing unrest in Ukraine could prompt
the West to tighten sanctions on Russia, the world's second-largest
oil exporter.
The Nymex trading floor will be closed in observance of Good
Friday. U.S. traders are hesitant to bet on lower prices ahead of
the three-day weekend, in case the crisis in Ukraine worsens, said
Rich Ilczyszyn, chief market strategist with iiTrader, a
Chicago-based futures brokerage.
Front-month May reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB,
settled down 0.1% at $3.0405 a gallon. May diesel rose 0.8% to
$3.0106 a gallon.
More information on settlements and highs and lows for futures
on Nymex and ICE platforms can be found by searching for the
following headlines:
Nymex Light Crude Oil Close
Nymex Harbor RBOB Gasoline Close
Nymex Heating Oil Close
ICE Brent Crude Oil Close
ICE Gas Oil Close
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com