Oil prices recoup earlier losses on Ukraine woes

TOKYO (AP) — The price of oil rebounded Thursday on worries about tensions in Ukraine.

U.S. crude for May delivery added 31 cents to close at $101.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, it fell by about the same amount.

Brent crude, an international benchmark for oil, rose 22 cents to $109.33 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Oil prices fell overnight when a U.S. government report showed a bigger-than-expected rise in oil supplies.

The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said oil supplies rose 3.5 million barrels in the week that ended April 18. That exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by Platts, who forecast an increase of 3.1 million barrels. At a record 397.7 million barrels, supplies are now 2.3 percent above year-earlier levels.

Ukraine is going through its biggest political crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union, sparked by months of anti-government protests and President Viktor Yanukovych's flight to Russia.

President Barack Obama, while visiting Tokyo, warned Moscow that the U.S. has another round of economic sanctions "teed up."

In other energy futures trading in New York:

— Wholesale gasoline was flat at $3.04 a gallon.

— Heating oil was little changed at $2.98 a gallon.

— Natural gas added 3 cents to $4.76 per 1,000 cubic feet.