Oil reach 5-week high above US$94 a barrel after Cyprus financial bailout

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The price of oil rose to a five-week high Monday after Europe patched up the latest problem in its financial crisis.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose $1.10 to finish at US$94.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That’s the highest New York closing since Feb. 20.

Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by U.S. refineries, rose 51 cents to US$108.17 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Cyprus secured rescue loans of 10 billion euros (US$13 billion) early Monday, just hours before a deadline set by the European Central Bank.

The bank had threatened to halt emergency assistance to the country’s banks if no agreement had been reached by Tuesday. A financial collapse in Cyprus would have threatened the euro currency bloc.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex, wholesale gasoline was flat at US$3.06 a U.S. gallon (3.79 litres), heating oil fell one cent to US$2.88 a gallon and natural gas lost six cents to US$3.87 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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