NEW YORK (AP) ó Energy prices rose Wednesday after the government reported a drop in U.S. crude stores and a sharp pullback in fuel production.
Benchmark crude for June delivery rose 3 cents to $58.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices rose 11 cents to $58.05 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Prices for retail gasoline have been rising across the country and they did so again overnight after the AAA reported that more Americans would hit the road this Memorial Day. It would be the first time that has happened in four years.
Researchers say Americans are taking advantage of comparatively cheap gasoline after staying home in recent years as prices surged. The national average price for gasoline rose nearly 87 percent between 2005 and 2008.
Retail gas prices rose to a new national average of $2.267 a gallon overnight, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Prices are 21.6 cents a gallon more expensive than last month, but they’re $1.465 a gallon cheaper than a year ago.
Gasoline futures traded on Nymex also rose.
The enormous amount of crude, gasoline and natural gas in storage has kept prices in check. Despite a drop of 4.7 million barrels last week, the 370.6 million barrels of crude in U.S. storage houses is the most since 1990.
Refineries, which make gasoline, pulled back on production last week, according to the government. That has helped put a floor under prices, which have tumbled because businesses and consumers are spending much less on energy this year.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for June delivery rose 2 cents to $1.6879 a gallon and heating oil increased less than a penny to $1.5035 a gallon. Natural gas for June delivery lost 2 cents to $4.30 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Austria and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.