Oil Closes Week Near $65 a Barrel

Crude oil futures for a second day closed just short of $65 a barrel on Friday, following a jump of more than $2 on Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil prices rose 8 cents from Thursday's close on the New York Mercantile Exchanged to finishg the trading week at $64.96 a barrel, Bloomberg said.

Traders on Thursday had cited concerns that gasoline supplies will not be adequate this summer in light of recent refinery outages, Bloomberg reported.

Although refinery capacity rose 0.6% to 89.5% — as measured in the Department of Energy’s weekly inventory report Wednesday — refineries should be running in the mid-90s percentile range, Bloomberg reported, citing analysts.

The so-called summer driving season begins in eight days, with the start of Memorial Day weekend.

Gasoline prices reached an all-time record $3.103 a gallon, DOE said Monday in its latest weekly retail price survey.

Diesel prices have declined more than a dime over the past four straight weeks, with the most recent national average price at $2.773 — leaving a 33-cent differential between the two fuels.