Crude ends the year of 2010 above US$91

04-Jan-11

Crude futures settled above US$91 a barrel on the last trading day of 2010, near a two-year highs. Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose to US$91.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange rose to US$94.75 a barrel. In 2010, futures have risen 15%, but most of that rally has come in the last two months. Recently, US stockpiles of oil and fuel products fell from multi-year highs. This month, U.S. oil inventories dropped by more than 20 million barrels, helped by improving demand for gasoline and better domestic economic growth. Meanwhile, China's oil imports hit the highest level on record in September. Gasoline futures hit a fresh two-year high Friday, with the expiring front-month January reformulated gasoline blendstock (RBOB) contract settling up 6.14 cents, or 2.6%, at US$2.4532 a gallon.