Oil prices climb in Asian trading 2 hours, 11 minutes ago

Oil prices climb in Asian trading 2 hours, 11 minutes ago



SINGAPORE - Oil prices rose Thursday in Asia after a U.S. government report showed big declines in crude and gasoline stockpiles and an unexpected drop in refinery activity.

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Oil and gasoline futures in the previous session jumped immediately after the report's release, too, but finally settled lower after a day of up and down trade.

Midmorning in Singapore, light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 15 cents to $72.30 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 27 cents to settle at $72.15 a barrel Wednesday.

The mixed response to the report may signify that overall sentiment is turning. Last week, the September crude contract rose to its highest intraday level ever after the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported an unexpected draw in the crude oil stocks.

On Wednesday, the EIA said in its weekly report that U.S. refinery utilization fell 2.3 percentage points to 91.3 percent in the week ended Aug. 3. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, expected an increase of 0.1 percentage point.

Despite the decline in refinery activity, crude oil inventories fell 4.1 million barrels, more than double the 2 million barrel decline the analysts had expected. Gasoline inventories fell 1.7 million barrels, when they had expected a 1 million barrel increase.

Gasoline futures, though, have fallen steadily in recent weeks as refineries have boosted their output of gasoline. While gasoline inventories fell this week and remain low by historical standards, analysts have noted that there is less than a month of peak driving season left.

That could explain why refiners are cutting production.

Distillate inventories, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 1 million barrels last week, the EIA said. Expectations had been for a 1.8 million-barrel gain.

Analysts said that speculators who helped to push the crude oil futures to record levels last week continue to sell and take their profits and are wary of buying more futures contracts after the steep fall that began last Friday.

September Brent crude rose 11 cents to $71.10 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.

Heating oil futures rose 0.32 cent to $1.97 a gallon while gasoline prices added 0.43 cent to $1.942 a gallon.

Natural gas prices rose 6.2 cents to $6.282 per 1,000 cubic feet.