NEW YORK: Oil prices climbed on Friday amid tight supplies ahead of the U.S. summer driving season.
The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery added 98 cents, or 0.9 percent, to settle at 115.07 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for July delivery increased 2.03 dollars, or 1.7 percent, to close at 119.43 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Prices found some support from buoyant gasoline demand and low gasoline stocks in the United States.
According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. gasoline inventories currently stood about 8 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
“Americans are facing record-high pump prices, but this does not appear to be deterring them from traveling or driving at the moment,” Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank Research, said Friday in a note.
