Oil prices surge to $ 63.61 per barrel in world market
Pakistan Times Monitoring Desk

LONDON (UK): World oil prices rose before the latest weekly snapshot of US crude inventories, forecast to show a drop in gasoline stockpiles that could in turn send energy prices to fresh record highs.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, climbed 54 cents on Wednesday to 63.61 dollars per barrel in electronic trading. The contract had struck 64.27 dollars late on Monday — the highest level since it was first traded in 1983.

The price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September gained 75 cents to 62.73 dollars per barrel on Wednesday, a day after reaching a record-high 63.06 dollars. The price of light sweet crude has risen by 42 percent and Brent North Sea by 50 percent in one year.

“Today focus will be on the US inventory data, with gasoline stocks expected to have fallen by 1.9 million barrels in the week to August 5 as refineries struggle to avoid breakdowns and meet demand,” Sucden analyst Sam Tilley said.

“Crude stocks are expected to have fallen by 600,000 barrels over the week while distillate stocks are expected to be up by 1.7 million barrels.”●