Oil Prices Inch Higher

Energy futures were mixed on Wednesday as traders switched their focus away from geopolitical issues and toward domestic inventory and supply concerns.

The May light sweet crude contract rose 12 cents to $62.01 a barrel, while natural gas was down 1 cent at $7.86 per million British thermal units.

Gasoline added 3 cents to $2.15 a gallon, after touching an eight-month high above $2.17 a gallon earlier. Heating oil gained 1 cent to $1.87 a gallon.

The moves came after the Energy Information Administration released new petroleum inventory figures that were extremely bullish for gasoline supplies.

For the week ended April 6, crude inventories rose by 700,000 barrels, whereas analysts at Barclays Research were expecting a 2.4 million barrel injection. Gasoline inventories fell by 5.5 million barrels, as opposed to an expected 1.3 million barrel decline. Refinery utilization rates rose by more than 1% over the previous week.

"Today's EIA figures reiterate that there is very strong demand in the gasoline market," according to Thomas Hartman, energy analyst at Altavest Worldwide Trading. "There are definitely concerns over whether we will have adequate gasoline supplies when the summer driving season peaks in midsummer."

"If we don't start seeing inventory builds instead of withdrawals soon, we will likely have gasoline shortages this summer," Hartman said.

Spreads between crude oil and gasoline, known as "crack spreads," are currently near $27 a barrel, which is abnormally high. "As refinery utilization grows, the crude overhang will start to get eaten up. This will lift crude prices and reduce gasoline prices," Hartman said.