Oil prices Climb, Crude Oil for May delivery Rose 68 cents

Oil prices climbed after US consumer sentiment and spending gained and Euro area agreed to boost rescue funds. Oil futures prices increase 0.9 % and crude oil for May delivery rose 68 cents or about 0.7 %, to USD 103.46 per barrel on NYME.

Brent oil for May settlement gained 81 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $123.20 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark contract’s premium to New York-traded West Texas Intermediate oil was at $19.74, compared with yesterday’s close of $19.61, the widest gap in five months.

Crude oil prices fell 2.5 percent at March 29 2012, the biggest drop since December, and are down 3.4 percent this week after U.S. stockpiles climbed to the highest level since August and Western countries discussed tapping emergency reserves.

Consumer sentiment index rose to 76.2 from 75.3 at the end of last month. It was projected to come in at 74.5 after a preliminary figure of 74.3, according to the median of 63 estimates from economists in a Bloomberg News survey. U.S. consumer purchases gained 0.8 percent in February, the Commerce Department said.