Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Oil rose toward $71 a barrel in New York, snapping seven days of losses as China’s industrial output and crude processing increased, adding to signs of an economic rebound in the world’s second-largest energy user.
Oil, which has fallen 10 percent in eight days, pared some of this week’s drop after China’s factory production beat estimates and oil processing reached a record. Prices had fallen after U.S. gasoline supplies rose to the highest level since April and inventories of distillate fuel increased last week.
“The only sustainable demand is coming from China,” said Clarence Chu, a trader with options dealers Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. “Everyone agrees that the growth is coming from the non-OECD countries.”
Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as 53 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $71.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $71.03 a barrel at 4:20 p.m. Singapore time.
Yesterday, the contract fell 13 cents to $70.54, the lowest settlement price since Oct. 7. Futures are poised for a weekly drop of 6.2 percent, the biggest since the week ended Sept. 25.
China’s refiners boosted their output last month, underscoring how demand for crude outside of developed economies is supporting oil prices.
The country’s oil processing rose 21 percent from a year earlier to 33.4 million metric tons, or about 8.2 million barrels a day, in November, according to data from the China Mainland Marketing Research Co.
China Output
China imported 17.1 million metric tons of crude oil in November, 28 percent more than a year earlier, government data showed. Imports of crude oil in the first 11 months gained 11 percent to 182.5 million tons, according to preliminary data from the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs today.
China’s factory output climbed 19.2 percent from a year earlier, the biggest increase since June 2007, and more than the 18.2 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 25 economists.
The dollar traded at $1.4723 per euro at 3:59 p.m. in Singapore, from $1.4732 yesterday.
OPEC will increase shipments by 0.8 percent in the four weeks ending Dec. 26, according to consultant Oil Movements. Members will bolster exports by sea in the period to 23.02 million barrels a day, from 22.84 million in the month ended Nov. 28, the Halifax, England-based tanker-tracker said yesterday.
The 12-member group will have its final meeting of 2009 on Dec. 22 in the Angolan capital of Luanda. Last week Kuwait, Algeria, Libya and Qatar said in Cairo that they want the organization to maintain its output target of 24.845 million barrels a day.
U.S. Stockpiles
Crude oil stockpiles in the U.S. fell 3.82 million barrels to 336.1 million last week, the Energy Department report showed.
Gasoline stockpiles climbed 2.25 million barrels to 216.3 million last week, the highest since the week ended April 17, an Energy Department report showed Dec. 9. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, increased 1.62 million barrels to 167.3 million.
“The fundamentals haven’t improved. said Hudson Capital’s Chu. “People were expecting the economy to have picked up by the end of the year but now it looks like it will take longer.”
Brent crude oil for January settlement rose as much as 55 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $72.41 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $72.13 a barrel at 3:58 p.m. Singapore time. The contract declined 53 cents, or 0.7 percent, to end the session at $71.86 a barrel yesterday.
To contact the reporters on this story: Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at christian.s@bloomberg.net; Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net
