March contract reclaims $91 a barrel; traders keep eyes on Egypt
By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures turned higher Wednesday, reversing off an earlier bout of mild weakness, as investors awaited the latest weekly figures on U.S. petroleum inventories from the Energy Information Administration.
Also on energy traders’ radar screens, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced late Tuesday that he would not run for re-election after his term expires later this year. See more on Mubarak’s speech in the face of widespread Egyptian protests.
Light sweet crude for March delivery (CLH11 90.98, +0.21, +0.23%) rose 30 cents to $91.07 a barrel.
On Tuesday, the March crude contract fell $1.42, or 1.5%, to close at $90.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Later Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said crude-oil stocks rose 3.77 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 28. That figure came in above the estimate of 3 million barrels, according to analysts polled by Platts.
Gasoline stockpiles rose 3.9 million barrels, the Washington-based industry group said. Gasoline had been expected to rise 2 million barrels.
