Oil rose above $94 per barrel Thursday on the heels of a big drop in U.S. oil supplies, but analysts didn't expect to see prices take off, AP reported. Benchmark oil for July delivery was up 55 cents to $94.29 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 43 cents to close at $93.74 a barrel the day before. The Energy Department on Wednesday said U.S. crude oil inventories shrank by 6.3 million barrels in the week ended May 31, thanks to a sharp drop in imports. Analysts expected a drop of 1 million barrels. Separately, the American Petroleum Institute said stockpiles shrank by 464,000 to 387.3 million barrels. Tighter supplies tend to push oil prices higher. In other markets, Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, rose 40 cents to $103.44 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. In other energy futures trading on the Nymex: - Wholesale gasoline rose 1.2 cents at $2.835 a gallon. - Heating oil rose 1.1 cent to $2.866 per gallon. - Natural gas was down 0.9 cent to $3.992 per 1,000 cubic feet.
