Crude oil prices rose from a seven-week low Thursday as traders speculated that declining US refinery utilization capacity might reduce availability of fuels such as gasoline and diesel.

On the New York Mercantile, light, sweet oil futures for May delivery rose 91 cents to end at 51.13 dollars. Prices touched 49.75 dollars a barrel during earlier trading, the lowest level since February 22. Meanwhile, on London's International Petroleum Exchange the May Brent crude-oil futures contract added 43 cents to close at 50.91 dollars per barrel.

The Department of Energy reported yesterday that US inventories of crude oil and gasoline had risen sharply. But the same report showed that US refineries operated at 91 percent of capacity last week, down 2.7 percent from the week before. Traders worried that lower US refinery utilization rates could mean less gasoline and diesel products for the market.

Analysts now weighed bullish factors against bearish factors in their projections of oil trends. Some said that strong demand in Asia would pushed oil prices higher, while rising oil stocks might pressured on the market.

Source: Xinhua