Oil Prices Moderate

After briefly topping $58 per barrel, on Monday oil futures (sweet, light crude) closed at $57.01, despite published data showing increased supplies of gasoline and crude. Prices have increased about $15 a barrel since January 1, and the average price of gasoline in the US has reached $2.22 per gallon. An OPEC announcement of discussions to increase their quote by as much as a half-million-barrel-a-day was credited with stemming the rising price.

The price increase seems like speculation, given published supply levels. According to Forbes (emphasis added):

Last week the U.S. government said the nation had 214.4 million barrels of gasoline, or 6 percent above year ago levels. The supply of crude oil - after growing for five weeks straight and by more than 17 million barrels - was 314.7 million barrels, or 9 percent above year ago levels.