Oil Rises Following Inventory Report

Oil rose modestly from a two-week low but remained under $100 a barrel Wednesday following a report that showed crude inventories rose last week.

Oil rose about $2 from Tuesday’s $97.18 per-barrel closing price in early New York Mercantile Exchange trading, Bloomberg reported.

Crude inventories rose 1.8 million barrels last week, while distillates and gasoline stockpiles declined by 2.6 million, and 4.2 million barrels, respectively, the Department of Energy said in its weekly report.

Meanwhile, heating oil may be more expensive than gasoline this summer for only the second time in 10 years following Japan’s earthquake and civil unrest in Libya, which may drive up demand for U.S. distillate exports, Bloomberg reported.

Diesel is a distillate fuel. Unrest in Libya, Africa’s third-largest oil producer, is forcing European marketers to turn to diesel refined in the United States, which could boost prices, Bloomberg said, citing analysts.