The price of oil rose above $100 a barrel on Wednesday, buoyed by industry data showing a decline in US supplies and the continuing conflict in Ukraine.By early afternoon in Europe, the benchmark US crude contract for June delivery was up 60 cents to US$100.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the contract rose 2 cents.Brent crude, a benchmark for international varieties of oil, was up 21 cents to US$107.27 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Information from the American Petroleum Institute released late Tuesday showed a decline of 1.8 million barrels in US crude stocks for last week, which might reflect increased demand.