US stocks buoy crude prices

By VAHE PETROSSIAN London

 16 August 2012 22:59 GMT

OIL prices continued their gains of late last week, encouraged by falling US inventories and hopes of central bank interventions to boost economies on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Benchmark Brent crude was at a three-month high of $114.67, up $0.64, per barrel in late afternoon trading on Wednesday.

In New York, US light was fetching $93.63, up $0.20, per barrel in mid-day trading.

Brent has recently commanded premiums of more than $20 per barrel over US light, the highest since October, mainly because of expected output drops in the North Sea due to maintenance.

Wednesday’s price increases followed the release of data by the Energy Information Administration in Washington showing an unexpected drop of 3.7 million barrels in crude stocks to 366.16…

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