NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices jumped 9 percent Wednesday as global stock markets rallied and the government reported crude levels in U.S. storage houses unexpectedly shrank.
Benchmark crude for April delivery rose $3.73 a barrel to settle at $45.38 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest close in six weeks. Oil prices shot up as high as $45.76 a barrel earlier in the day.
The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said crude inventories dropped by 700,000 barrels, or 0.2 percent, to 350.6 million barrels, for the week ended Feb. 27. Analysts had expected a boost of 2.2 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Crude inventories have been bloated for months, and a one-week drop won't signal a sustained rally in oil prices, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.
"It's going to be a shaky year. The fundamentals are still poor," Kloza said. "Oil prices won't move higher without some signs that the economic malaise has bottomed out." more...
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