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US crude, gasoline inventories plunge
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 06 29 06
US crude oil and gasoline inventories dropped sharply over the past week, the Department of Energy said Wednesday, as Americans ramped up for the peak holiday driving season.
After the report, the price of crude oil shot up 58 cents to 72.50 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It had opened 18 cents higher.
The weekly DoE inventories report showed crude oil reserves fell by 3.4 million barrels to 343.7 million over the week ended June 23. That was sharply steeper than analysts' forecast of a decline of 1.4 million barrels.
Reserves of gasoline (petrol), which are under scrutiny because of the peak US demand season, fell one million barrels to 212.4 million.
Analysts had predicted a rise of 450,000 barrels.
Demand for gasoline rose 1.2 percent from the prior week, to 9.54 million barrels per day, matching its record high set for the first time in August 2005.
Over the past four weeks, US gasoline demand has run 0.9 percent higher than in the same period a year ago.
Reserves of distillates, used for heating oil and diesel, rose 1.8 million barrels to 126.3 million, the DoE said, topping market expectations of a gain of 1.45 million.
The DoE also reported that US refineries operated at 93.8 percent capacity in the past week, compared with 93.3 percent in the previous week.
AFP 28 1513 GMT 06 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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