Oil hits new 6-month high above $65

Benchmark crude for July delivery was up 67 cents to $65.75 a barrel by late morning in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract rose $1.63 to settle at $65.08, a six-month high and almost double the lows reached in March, when it fell below $35 a barrel. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration on Thursday said US oil supplies dropped unexpectedly by 5.4 million barrels last week. Though crude inventories remain near 19-year highs, it was the third week in a row that supplies have fallen. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Thursday at a meeting in Vienna that it will keep output levels unchanged. OPEC announced production cuts of 4.2 million barrels a day between September and January, but has kept output steady since then. The JBC analysts say that because supply remains so high, another OPEC production cut is likely, possibly at the next meeting in September. In other Nymex trading, gasoline for June delivery rose 1.28 cents to $1.92 a gallon and heating oil gained 1.02 cents to $1.61 a gallon. Natural gas for June delivery was up 1.9 cents at $3.98 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent prices rose 76 cents to $65.15 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange; Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.con.cn for full version.