Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Crude prices rebound on U.S. stimulus plan

NEW YORK, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Crude prices rebounded on Wednesday as the U.S. House of Representatives was expected to approve an 816-billion-U.S.-dollar economic stimulus plan.

The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories jumped 6.2 million barrels from the previous week, almost twice what was expected.

U.S. crude stocks have increased by more than 44 million barrels in the past four months, the biggest four-month rise since1990, according to the data.

However, distillate stocks dropped 1 million barrels last week as cold weather hit the U.S. Northeast, the world's top heating oil market, and gasoline supplies declined 100,000 barrels.

Oil prices received a boost from remarks by President Obama that he is confident that an economic stimulus bill will be approved. The House is expected to approve the economic stimulus plan late Wednesday.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 58 cents to settle at 42.16 dollars a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling more than 4 dollars on Monday.

In London, the March Brent contract climbed 1.17 dollars to settle at 44.90 dollars on the ICE Futures exchange.

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