Recovering Greenback Drops Oil Prices

Thursday Oil eased below $118 PB, as a stronger greenback initiated selling and traders focused on U.S. crude stockpiles.
U.S. light crude for the delivery in June dropped 40 cents a barrel to $117.90 a barrel after gaining 23 cents in New York on Wednesday.

The May contract shot to a record high of $119.90 before it expired on Tuesday due to supply concerns.

But prices eased as crude oil stocks surged by 2.4 million barrels, double the forecast level, mainly from gains on the West Coast.
The dollar's recovery against the euro and falls in other commodities such as gold also undermined prices.

U.S. gasoline inventories fell for the sixth straight week, by 3.2 million barrels against the forecast for a 2.3 million decline.

New attacks on Nigeria oil export facilities are likely to partly offset this week's start-up of Saudi Arabia's 500,000 barrel-per-day Khursaniyah field, said Antoine Halff, deputy head of research from Newedge USA, in a report.

Refinery workers at Britain's Grangemouth refinery are due to begin a two-day strike on Sunday that will shut the plant and squeeze fuel supplies in Scotland and northern England.