Crude futures prices rose to fresh three-year highs on Thursday, as a sharp stock draw in the US and signals that OPEC could continue production cuts into next year continued to add bullish momentum to the market.  At 1000 GMT, June ICE Brent crude futures were up 65 cents at $74.13/b, the highest level since November 2014, while the NYMEX May WTI contract was up 56 cents at $69.03/b. The rises came in spite a stronger dollar, which is often bearish for commodities prices. On Thursday, the US dollar was up 0.04%.  US crude oil inventories fell 1.071 million barrels to 427.567 million barrels for the week ended April 13, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. US gasoline stocks fell by 2.968 million barrels to 235.967 million barrels, while distillate stocks fell 3.107 million barrels to 125.34 million barrels.  “The fact that the gasoline inventory reduction was more pronounced than anticipated was due to record-high gasoline demand, which is extremely unusual outside the summer driving season,” said Commerzbank analysts in a note.

View full article at www.platts.com