Crude oil futures rose on concerns that gas supply may not be enough to meet growing demand in the driving season, although the US government report showed an eighth consecutive rise in US crude stockpiles.
May crude oil futures added $0.90 to $56.75 a barrel.

The U.S. Energy Department reported on Wednesday that the US inventories of crude oil added 2.4 million barrels last week to end at 317.1 million barrels, which is 8 percent higher than last year. The inventories of distillate fuel, comprising diesel and jet fuel, increased by 700,000 barrels to 104.1 million barrels, a little above year-ago levels.

The inventories of gasoline lost 2.1 million barrels last week dropping to 212.3 million barrels, which is still 5.5 percent higher than in 2004. This compares to the gasoline demand hovering at 2% above last year’s levels.

The report caused a drop yesterday, but now the market focused on the tight refining capacity ahead of the driving season.

Saudi Arabia is ready to go extra mile to alleviate surge in oil prices that can slow down global growth in the long-term perspective, affecting oil producers. The world’s largest producer has offered to pump to capacity, an unidentified OPEC official told the Wall Street Journal. Saudi Arabia claims to be able to pump 11 million barrels a day of crude oil, against 9.5 million barrels a day produced in March and 9.2 million barrels a day in February. The Saudis pumped at full capacity only twice in history before the Iraq invasion in 2003 and in 2004 after hurricanes shut down oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.