Crude surpasses $ 70 after U.S. report

The crude contract for August delivery rose $ 1.56 to $ 70.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent crude contract rose 1 $ 45 to $ 69.78 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

In a revised reading of gross domestic product for the first quarter, the Commerce Department said the United States decline between January and March was 5.5% and 5.7% not reported as a month ago.

The fall in economic activity brought down energy demand due plant closures and fewer people drive to work or for leisure travel by car or plane.

However, it is believed that the economy is contracting at a slower pace this quarter and closures of refineries and political instability in oil producing countries like Nigeria and Iran pushed up prices throughout the day.

Once again the value of the dollar plays an important role in price of crude.

The following prices have fallen more than $ 73 per barrel this month as the dollar strengthened. Most experts believe that prices on Nymex and retailing reached levels that were inconsistent with the demand for lean energy. They say the responsibility lies with the investors' money that has flooded the market to use oil as their refuge from inflation.

In other Nymex transactions, gasoline for July delivery rose 5 , 58 cents to $ 1.8983 a gallon and heating oil gained 3.82 cents to $ 1.7763.

The July natural gas rose 8.3 cents to $ 3.844 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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Journalists from The Associated Press Pablo Gorondi in Budapest and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

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