Oil climbed for a third day in New York as signs of a strengthening U.S. economy boosted bets fuel demand will rise in the world’s largest crude user.
Futures advanced as much as 0.7 percent to a 30-month high after an April 1 report showed the U.S. added more jobs than economists forecast last month. Prices advanced 2.4 percent last week as fighting in Libya threatened to prolong supply cuts in Africa’s third largest producer.
“The U.S. data paints a positive picture,” Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services Pty in Sydney, said by telephone today. “People are still concerned about Libya, but not overly. If Qaddafi decides to call it a day, then there will be a short, sharp sell-off.”
Crude for May delivery gained as much as 80 cents to $108.74 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Sept. 24, 2008, and was at $108.52 at 3:13 p.m. Singapore time. Prices are up 25 percent from a year ago.
Payrolls advanced by 216,000 workers in March compared with a 190,000 gain projected by economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The jobless rate dropped to 8.8 percent from 8.9 percent, the fourth straight decrease, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate was projected to hold at 8.9 percent, according to the median forecast in the survey.
Brent Premium
Brent oil for May settlement rose 59 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $119.29 a barrel, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract climbed $3.11, or 2.7 percent last week.
The European benchmark traded at a premium of $10.73 a barrel over U.S.-traded West Texas Intermediate futures. The difference between front-month contracts in London and New York surged to a record $19.54 on Feb. 21 as unrest spread in the Middle East and North Africa and stockpiles climbed at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI. The gap averaged 76 cents last year.
Oil in New York has climbed 28 percent since anti- government protests began Feb. 15 in Libya, cutting output there by two-thirds. The conflict is the bloodiest in uprisings that have toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt and spread to Bahrain, Iran, Yemen and Oman.
An emissary of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi met with Greece’s prime minister yesterday and may be seeking a political or diplomatic solution to hostilities, according to Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas.
“Upcoming elections in Nigeria amid the intensified unrest” in the Middle East and North Africa region may add to concern over oil supplies, Mark Pervan, head of commodity research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne, said in an e-mailed note.
Nigeria Elections
Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, will hold general elections a week later than planned, the electoral commission said, after a vote to elect lawmakers ended in chaos on April 2.
Parliamentary elections, which had been rescheduled to start today, will take place on April 9, while the presidential vote is set for April 16, Attahiru Jega, head of the Independent National Electoral Commission, said yesterday.
Nigeria pumped 1.92 million barrels a day in March, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg News. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped 9 million barrels a day.
Hedge funds more than doubled bullish bets on natural gas as the U.S. economy strengthened and Japan struggled to contain its nuclear crisis, raising speculation that the nation’s demand for the fuel will rise.
Funds and other large speculators increased net-long positions, or wagers on rising prices, by 42,060 futures equivalents to 76,985 in the seven days ended March 29, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report.
In other markets, bullish, or long, bets on gasoline prices rose 5.6 percent to 61,367 futures and options combined, the CFTC data showed. Net-long bets on heating oil increased by 5.5 percent to 37,625.
Heating oil companies in Massachusetts
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