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Oil prices rise on stock market rally

Oil prices rise on Dow winning streak
Oil prices rise on Dow winning streak

The price of oil has risen for a fourth straight day and topped $93 for the first time this month.

At midday in New York, benchmark oil for April delivery was up 74 cents to $92.80 per barrel after earlier rising to $93.47.

Oil has now risen nearly 3% in the last four trading sessions.

Whether it maintains that momentum could depend on this week's reports on US oil supplies.

Many traders believe the large supply of oil in the US has kept a lid on prices.

Last week the Energy Department said that the nation's supply of crude is 10.3% above year-ago levels.

US oil production, at more than 7 million barrels a day, is also at the highest level since the late 1990s.

Data for the week ending March 8 is expected to show a build of 2.3 million barrels in crude oil stocks and a draw of 1.5 million barrels in gasoline stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its report on oil stocks later, while the report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration - the market benchmark - will be out tomorrow.

US gas pump prices have levelled off at $3.70 a gallon, according to AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That's down 8 cents since the start of March and 10 cents cheaper than a year ago.

Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by US refineries, was down 9 cents to $109.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.