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Empresas y finanzas

Oil gains 1 percent on U.S. inventory drop


    By Christopher Johnson

    LONDON (Reuters) - Crude oil prices rose around 1 percent on Friday after U.S. inventories fell for a fourth straight week, although prices were set for a weekly drop on a stronger dollar.

    Oil saw steep falls earlier this week as a resurgent dollar weighed on the market amid concerns U.S. crude supplies may have started rising again after three weeks of draws.

    North Sea Brent crude has shed more than 3 percent this week, its second straight weekly loss, while U.S. crude is set to end a record weekly winning streak with a loss of more than 2 percent.

    July Brent was up 60 cents at $63.18 a barrel by 0820 GMT. U.S. crude , also known as West Texas Intermediate or WTI, was up 70 cents at $58.38.

    U.S. inventory data and wildfires in Canada, which knocked out 10 percent of its oil sands output, also supported prices.

    Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday showed crude oil inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels last week, down for the fourth week ahead of Monday's Memorial Day holiday, which unofficially kicked off the peak summer driving season in the United States.

    The fall in crude stocks in the EIA data was more than the 857,000-barrel drawdown forecast in a Reuters survey and contrary to the build of 1.3 million barrels estimated by the American Petroleum Institute. [API/S]

    "The global supply imbalance is set to persist into the second half of 2015, but pressure to store in the U.S. is likely to taper off over the summer, temporarily flattening the WTI curve," Barclays analysts said in a note.

    Brent's premium over U.S. prices has come off over 40 percent since mid-April as OPEC has maintained production, keeping markets well-supplied.

    The group is expected to keep its production quota unchanged when it meets in Vienna on June 5.

    "With OPEC's June 5 meeting right around the corner and no chance of a policy change, we will continue to focus on U.S. production and production costs," Societe Generale analysts said in a note.

    (Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Dale Hudson)