NEW YORK, United States

OIL rose yesterday as OPEC and the US Energy Information Administration held onto their views that the global appetite for oil will grow to record levels this year despite a shaky global economic recovery.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery gained US$2.28, or 2.4 per cent, to settle at US$97.43 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, used to price many international oil varieties, rose 51 cents to settle at US$117.75 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

“If you look at the macroeconomic headlines, we should be closer to US$67 (per barrel) than US$97” for WTI, analyst Stephen Schork said. But many traders “are going to keep pushing things to see how far they go”.

Traders point to the effect of international currency markets on the price of oil. The dollar fell yesterday and helped push up the price of oil, since oil is priced in dollars and becomes less expensive for buyers with foreign currency as the dollar weakens. But poor jobs data, the growing US trade deficit, a festering credit crisis in Europe and other recent troublesome reports about the economy could have pulled prices down just as easily, analysts said.

“The market is just looking for an excuse to go higher,” said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.

Pump prices rebounded this month, hitting a US average of US$3.636 per gallon (3.8 litres) yesterday. Just a week ago, the average was US$3.562 a gallon. A gallon of regular is still about 35 cents less than it was when prices peaked in May. It’s 92 cents higher than a year ago.

Gasoline is getting more expensive even though US motorists continue to cut back. MasterCard SpendingPulse said yesterday that gasoline consumption has dropped for 16 weeks in a row. SpendingPulse, which tracks credit card payments around the country, said the four-week average for gasoline demand fell by 1.1 per cent last week compared to a year ago.

Demand even dropped over the July 4 weekend, usually a time for lots of road trips. MasterCard analyst Jason Gamel said motorists used 1.7 per cent less this year than they did during last year’s holiday weekend.