Oil price rises to $55 a barrel as US uses stocks

Oil increased to $54.95 a barrel in London after a US government report showed US refiners processed a record amount of crude last week.

Refineries in the US used 17.1m barrels a day of crude last week, according to the Energy Information Administration, the most in weekly data going back to 1989.

Refineries operated at the highest utilisation rate since September before they perform planned seasonal maintenance. Oil stockpiles rose 4.1 million barrels.