By Nicole Friedman 
 

NEW YORK--Oil futures advanced to a six-week high Thursday as traders turned their focus from rising U.S. stockpiles to the continued drawdown of supplies from a storage hub in Oklahoma, where the benchmark U.S. contract is priced.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled up 54 cents, or 0.5%, at $104.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest price since March 3. Prices rose 0.5% on the week.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange lost 7 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $109.53 a barrel. Prices are up 2% for the week.

Both the Nymex and ICE trading floors are closed Friday.

U.S. crude-oil stockpiles rose by 10 million barrels last week, the biggest one-week increase since 2001, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. However, supplies fell in Cushing, Okla., a key storage hub and the delivery point for the Nymex contract.

Cushing stocks are at their lowest level since 2009, sparking some concern that supplies could fall too low in some storage facilities for the oil to be easily pumped out.

"Nationwide, there's ample crude stocks, but at the delivery point for the futures contract, there isn't," said Andy Lebow, senior vice president for energy derivatives at Jefferies Bache LLC.

Because the May contract is nearing expiration, concerns about physical delivery in Cushing are boosting the market, he said. The May Nymex contract expires at settlement April 22.

Gasoline supplies fell slightly last week to 210.3 million barrels, the lowest level since November, the EIA said. Stocks are "lower than they ought to be for this time of year," ahead of the summer-driving season, Mr. Lebow said.

Front-month May reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, rose 1.42 cents, or 0.5%, to $3.0547 a gallon, the highest price since Aug. 29, 2012. Prices are up 1.3% for the week.

Meanwhile, Brent futures fell slightly as Ukraine and Russia agreed to "initial concrete steps to de-escalate tensions and restore security for all citizens," including demobilizing militias, vacating seized Ukrainian government buildings and establishing a political overhaul program. However, President Vladimir Putin didn't rule out sending Russian troops into Ukraine.

Oil prices have been buoyed by concerns that escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine could lead to further western sanctions on Russia, which could crimp Russian oil exports.

May diesel fell 0.24 cent, or 0.1%, to settle at $3.0082 a gallon. Prices rose 2.6% this week.

 
 

--Lukas I. Alpert and Andrey Ostroukh contributed to this article

Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com

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