Oil prices rise on supply constraints in Northeast

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Oil prices rise on supply constraints in Northeast

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Oil prices rose on supply constraints in US Northeast remain restricted three days after Sandy.

02 November,2012 03:23 am

The price of oil is rose as operations at refineries and supply terminals in the U.S. Northeast remain restricted three days after Superstorm Sandy.Benchmark oil gained 82 cents Thursday to $87.06 per barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Power outages are hampering refineries, storage tanks and supply terminals as they work to restore operations, largely in New York and New Jersey. Imports of oil are also limited, adding to supply problems.Service stations in many cities have closed because of they cant get gasoline delivered or lack the power to pump it out of their tanks. Thats left motorists to search for stations that are open and wait in long lines to fill their tanks.Some positive U.S. economic news is also boosting oil. Reports for October showed manufacturing expanded for the second straight month, private businesses added more jobs and consumer confidence was at the highest level in nearly five years. And the government says crude inventories shrank last week.The next key report is due Friday when the government releases the October jobs data.A healthier economy can increase demand for energy products as more consumers commute to work and manufacturing facilities buy more diesel to power operations.In London, Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, fell 48 cents to $108.11 per barrel.