Oil Closes Above $52 a Barrel

Oil rose for a second day Thursday, rising almost $3 to close the trading day above $52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

Crude futures rose $2.86 to close on the Nymex at $52.24 a barrel, Bloomberg said.

The gain came a day after the Department of Energy report reported a smaller gain in inventories last week than was forecast by an industry group, Bloomberg reported.

Oil supplies rose 1.7 million barrels last week to 361.1 million barrels, the highest since July 1993, DOE said in its weekly inventory report released Wednesday.

Gasoline stockpiles rose by 700,000 barrels for the week ended Saturday, while distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 3.4 million barrels, DOE said.

The American Petroleum Institute had said Tuesday that oil stockpiles jumped by 6.9 million barrels last week, Bloomberg reported.

Oil’s price gain rise was also supported by rising global equity markets, Bloomberg said.