Oil prices hit their highest level in nearly a month on Wednesday, buoyed by an outage at a major refinery on the U.S. East Coast and industry data that showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than expected.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $58.96 per barrel, up $1.13 from their last settlement. WTI earlier hit its strongest level since May 30 at $59.13 a barrel.Philadelphia Energy Solutions is expected to seek to permanently shut its oil refinery in the city after a massive fire caused substantial damage to the complex, two sources familiar with the plans said on Tuesday.
“Oil is up in reaction to the API data combined with the refinery disruption on the U.S. East Coast. Gasoline is up and leading the complex and helping to keep momentum up on crude,” Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix consultancy in Switzerland said.