Awwal 05, 1432 H/Feb 08, 2011, SPA -- Oil prices moved between small gains and losses on Tuesday after China increased key interest rates to help slow inflation in its growing economy. That raised concerns that the country's thirst for oil would diminish as well. West Texas Intermediate crude, or WTI, for March delivery added 15 cents at $87.63 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude rose 60 cents to $100.47 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. China's central bank raised interest rates for the third time since October to rein in inflation. The country's inflation rate hit a 28-month high of 5.1 percent in November before moderating in December. Government leaders fear a sharp rise in prices for things like food and fuel could trigger unrest. China is the second-largest energy consumer in the world, after the U.S. China's so-called «apparent oil demand» jumped 11.43 percent to a record 434.4 million metric tons in 2010 from the previous year, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. The figure is based on refinery and net oil product import data as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics and Chinese customs, Platts said. China imports 5.5 million barrels of oil a day and uses about 10 million barrels a day, according to Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research.
