Daily Times

Oil prices edged up on Friday on the back of reopening of the global economy, despite gloomy May inflation figures in the United States.

At 13:40 GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained 0.10 percent to reach $72.62 a barrel. Likewise, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $70.55, up 0.37 percent.

The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $69.81 a barrel with 0.57 percent decrease, Arab Light was available at $72.12 a barrel with 0.87 percent increase, while the price of Russian Sokol reached $72.96 after gaining 0.75 percent.

Meanwhile, the US Labour Department has said that consumer prices in the United States surged 5 percent in May from a year ago, accelerating at their fastest pace in nearly 13 years. The consumer price index (CPI) represents a basket including food, energy, groceries, housing costs and sales across a spectrum of goods. That’s the biggest CPI gain since the 5.3% increase in August 2008, just before the financial crisis sent the United States into the worst recession since the Great Depression.

According to analysts, the market is recovering impressively from the dismal weekly EIA report, as the drop in weekly gasoline demand was particularly disappointing. The US crude oil stockpiles that include the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell for the 11th straight week as refiners ramped up output, but fuel inventories grew sharply due to weak consumer demand, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said. Crude inventories that exclude the SPR fell by 5.2 million barrels in the week to June 4 to 474 million barrels, the third consecutive weekly drop.