Oil prices continued their surge in the world’s major trading centers, fortified by shrinking stockpiles and continued investor optimism that the market will strengthen in the coming months.
Brent crude, which was about $35 a barrel as recently as three months ago, rose as high as $59.04 on Thursday. Multiple trading gauges suggest a market that’s getting tighter, a move with global ramifications including boosting the revenues of oil-rich economies and bolstering gasoline prices at the pump.
Crude inventories at a key storage hub in the U.S. are now below their five-year average, and nationwide stockpiles continue to slump, an early indication that Saudi Arabia and its allies are succeeding in their efforts to drain a glut. Inventories are also dropping in China, where oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc said its sales in January were up significantly on a year earlier, meaning the world’s two most-important demand centers are seeing a notable tightening.
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