DTN Oil

CRANBURY, N.J. (DTN) -- Oil futures nearest delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange moved higher Thursday, extending gains on easing inflationary pressure after printing multiweek lows on Wednesday amid slowing economic growth.

After testing technical support levels Wednesday morning, oil futures registered a second session of gains, with the advance by June West Texas Intermediate capped as it neared $80 bbl at $79.85 bbl. WTI hasn't topped $80 bbl since May 1, settling Thursday's session $0.60 higher at $79.23 bbl.

July Brent futures gained $0.52 with a $83.27 bbl settlement, holding below the 100-day average at settlement, now at $83.42 bbl, for a third consecutive session.

WTI was lent support from bullish inventory statistics released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration showing a 2.508 million bbl drawdown from U.S. commercial crude inventory as refiners processed more crude oil and exports over 4 million bpd remained robust. Domestic refineries processed 307,000 bpd or 2% more crude oil during the week ended May 10 than the previous week, topping 16 million bpd for the second week in 2024 at 16.255 million bpd.

June RBOB futures rallied for a second session on Thursday after testing key support at the $2.4423 200-day moving average, gaining $0.0951 gallon or 3.9% from Wednesday's $2.4427 11-week low on the spot continuous chart to settlement at $2.5378 gallon. June ULSD futures registered a $0.0206 gain on Thursday with a $2.4437 gallon settlement.

Brian L. Milne can be reached at brian.milne@dtn.com