(Corrects size of Greece rescue package to $145 billion,
instead of $145 million, removes extra word in fourth
paragraph)
* Oil spill trims U.S. offshore natural gas supply
* U.S. consumer spending rises in March
* COMING UP: API inventory data released on Tuesday
(Recasts, updates prices, changes byline, moves dateline from
previous London)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose to a 19-month
high on Monday as economic optimism buoyed Wall Street and on
concerns that an oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast could
interrupt short-term supply.
U.S. crude futures prices pushed above $87 a barrel
following a lift in U.S. stocks after a government report that
showed U.S. consumer spending increased as expected in March.
Separately, The Institute for Supply Management said that the
U.S. manufacturing sector grew in April at the fastest pace in
almost six years. []
The reports came after details of the 110-billion-euro
($145 million) rescue package for Greece helped European shares
turn positive.
U.S. crude <CLc1> was up 56 cents at $86.71 a barrel at
1:50 p.m. EDT (1750 GMT). That was below the intraday high of
$87.15, which just eclipsed the previous 2010 peak of $87.09
struck on April 6 and was the highest front-month crude price
since $89.82 traded on Oct. 9, 2008.
Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $1.86 to $89.30 and traded as high
as $89.58, also the highest since October 2008.
Brent's unusual premium to U.S. crude partly reflects high
inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub that is the delivery
point for the U.S. crude oil benchmark, analysts said. Brent
has traded above U.S. crude only about 10 percent of the time
in the last 20 years. <CL-LCO1=R>
Stronger demand in India, China and other Asian economies
was also cited as a factor lifting Brent above U.S. crude.
"One factor supporting oil prices is the oil spill in the
U.S. and concerns about oil supply in the U.S.," said Carsten
Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank.
On Saturday, the U.S. government said two offshore natural
gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were shut as a
safety precaution, the first sign that the oil slick was
affecting the region's energy production.
But shipping operations at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port
were normal despite the massive oil spill offshore, a
spokeswoman for the port said on Monday.
Energy giant BP Plc <BP.L>, its reputation battered by the
oil spill threatening the U.S. Gulf Coast, said on Monday it
was working to stop the leak and promised to pay cleanup and
compensation claims.
One factor that analysts said might limit demand growth in
oil and other economically sensitive commodities was China's
move on Sunday to raise the proportion of deposits that lenders
must keep in reserve at the central bank, another step in a
campaign to curb inflation. []
(1 euro=$1.32)
(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London and Fayen Wong
in Perth; Editing by Alden Bentley)
