Oil spikes to USD 65.67 per barrel

New York's main contract,light sweet crude for Sept delivery,put on 27 cents to $65.67.

Oil was higher in Asian trade on Thursday as investors focused on Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments about the US economy,analysts said.

New York’s main contract,light sweet crude for September delivery,put on 27 cents to USD 65.67 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for September delivery rose 9 cents to USD 67.30.

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Bernanke told Congress in his semi-annual testimony on Tuesday and yesterday the US economy was on the mend but the recovery was still fragile.

For the moment,investors are focusing on the upbeat portion of Bernanke’s assessment of the world’s biggest economy and number one energy user,analysts said.

“Fed chairman (Bernanke) said that recent data was encouraging and that it was premature to increase fiscal stimulus,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk,chief investment strategist with SJS Markets financial firm.

“This should further calm down market doubts in the green shoots’ theory,” he said.

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A drop in US crude stocks,as expected by the market,was also lending some support to prices with the decline seen as suggesting demand was picking up in the US economy.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) said in its weekly report on Wednesday crude oil inventories sank 1.8 million barrels in the week ending July 17.

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