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U.S. crude pares gains, but lingers near 2-year high

22 November 2017 21:30 (UTC +04:00)

Oil pared gains on Wednesday after U.S. crude stockpiles fell less than an industry group’s expectations, but remained near a two-year high as the shutdown of one of the largest crude pipelines from Canada cut supply to the United States, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The restart of the 590,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Keystone pipeline shut last week due to a spill could take several weeks. Operator TransCanada Corp has told clients it will cut deliveries on the pipeline linking Alberta’s oil sands with U.S. refineries by 85 percent through the end of November.

U.S. crude peaked at $58.09 per barrel earlier in the session, the highest since July 2015, on concerns over reduced supplies on the Keystone pipeline and after the American Petroleum Institute (API) late Tuesday reported a 6.4 million-barrel crude drawdown for last week. [API/S]

By 1:38 p.m. (1838 GMT), U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading at $57.83, up $1, or 1.8 percent, after weekly government data showed crude inventories fell 1.9 million barrels. [EIA/S]

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for WTI fell by 1.8 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

Brent crude rose 55 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $63.12 per barrel, after earlier trading as high as $63.39.