Crude oil prices were steady Friday morning, pausing after strong recent gains on the back of a weaker U.S. dollar.
U.S. crude oil for June was down 20 cents at $59.52 a barrel, having come up just shy of the $60 mark last night.
Prices are up 3 percent this week, adding to gains from earlier in the month. The front-month contract is up 17.6 percent from March 31, moving well away from a 6-year low near $44.
Traders are calling it a technical breakout helped by tensions in the Middle East, where Yemen’s civil war has become a proxy fight between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
A massive build in global stockpiles has failed to dent prices of late.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report Wednesday morning. U.S. commercial crude inventories increased by 1.9 million barrels last week, maintaining a total U.S. commercial crude inventory of 490.9 million barrel.
It’s the 15th consecutive week of a higher total than at any time in at least 80 years.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com