Meanwhile, with US gas supplies well above average for this time of year, refiners have cut back on gasoline production, which has in turn helped boost prices. The Energy Information Administration said 767,400 barrels of refining capacity will be offline this month, up 14.5 percent from the historical average of 670,000 barrels of offline capacity.
That could mean tighter supply and higher prices in some regions, particularly on the East Coast in the next couple of weeks.
This is the season when refineries shut down for repairs and switch over to summer blends. That, along with more people hitting the road, usually means higher gasoline prices.
In other NYMEX trading, gasoline for May delivery rose US$0.0414 to settle at US$1.4810 a gallon (US$0.3912 a liter) and heating oil gained just more than US$0.03 to settle at US$1.4288 a gallon.
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