NEW YORK, May 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Crude oil futures settled higher Friday just before the start of American summer driving season.

    On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude oil futures for July delivery rose 84 cents to finish at 51.85 dollarsa barrel. Meanwhile, on London's International Petroleum Exchange the July Brent crude-oil futures contract climbed 54 cents to settle at 50.70 dollars a barrel.

    Friday was the weekend of the US Memorial Day holiday, which kicked off the US summer driving season. During the summer driving season, which lasted from late May through early September, gasoline demand would peak as Americans travel a lot by motor vehicles.

    "The Memorial Day weekend is fairly significant in the oil market," said an energy analyst. "Certainly, industry participants will be watching the demand of this period very closely."

    Traders began to be cautious about the drop in US crude inventories last week despite the current stocks were 32.4 million barrels higher than year-ago levels. Enditem