WTI oil prices open today’s trading session hovering near $92 a barrel as the latest set of US oil inventory data from the EIA was grim reading, with more falls in the weekly numbers.

Latest WTI Oil Price

US Light crude oil futures for February 2011 delivery was trading at $91.86 a barrel, 08.00 GMT this morning on the NYMEX. Meanwhile, the US dollar slipped lower, adding fuel to gains in both commodities and oil prices.

US EIA Oil Data Shows More Drops

The US EIA reported an unexpected drop in oil stockpiles again yesterday, with crude oil supplies down by 2.2 million barrels last week, at a time of year when oil inventories are usually replenished.

Over the past six weeks, US crude oil inventories are off 26.6 million barrels, the biggest six week decline since January 2008.

There was also expectation that the overnight snowstorm, the latest in a series to hit the northeastern US, would mean more heating fuel consumption that would drain stockpiles further.

“There are reasons that could explain and verify the current high oil prices. The recent shut in the key Trans Alaska pipeline, forecasts about heavy winter conditions in the US North East, as well as strong equity markets, could provide further support to crude oil prices. It might be fairly soon that we can see the oil prices back to the $100 level.” says Myrto Sokou, analyst at Sucden Financial.