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Oil prices mixed in Asia on surprising petrol inventories
AFP
SINGAPORE
Petroleumworld.com 06 14 07Oil prices were mixed in Asian trade Thursday after a surprising US report showed little change in gasoline (petrol) inventories, dealers said.
At 2:55 pm (0655 GMT), New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, was six cents lower at 66.20 dollars a barrel from 66.26 dollars in late US trades Wednesday when it climbed 91 cents.
Brent North Sea crude for July was 12 cents higher at 70.06 dollars.
Crude prices jumped after figures showed US gasoline inventories were flat at 201.5 million barrels in the week ending June 8, well below the average range for this time of year and ending a five-week streak of gains.
Market expectations were for a rise of 1.6 million barrels.
"(The price) got that big spike up after the surprise numbers," Tobin Gorey, a commodities strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said from Sydney.
"You get an instant reaction to the data and then a more sober assessment later."
US crude oil reserves rose by 100,000 barrels last week to 342.4 million barrels, confounding analysts' forecasts for a decline of 275,000 barrels.
Stocks of distillates -- gas and heating fuel -- rose 300,000 barrels to 122.6 million but were still below the level of a year ago.
"The report is bullish. The market anticipated significant builds in both products and both disappointed," said Eric Wittenauer of AG Edwards.
Prices were also supported by a decline in refinery utilisation for the second consecutive weak, he said.
Gorey said persistent US refinery problems weigh on the market.
Gasoline supplies remain in focus amid the current US driving season when demand for motor fuel traditionally peaks as holidaymakers hit the nation's roads.
Despite recent weekly increases, gasoline stocks in the United States are at historically low levels for this time of year.
"There's an ongoing struggle to get capacity utilisation up to higher levels. The issue just persists and I don't think it's going away," Gorey said.
The market had already priced in a premium to account for the refinery difficulties, Gorey said, but now the driving season has arrived it must consider whether to raise the premium even higher.
"That's the issue the market's toying with now," Gorey said.
In Abu Dhabi, OPEC president Mohammad al-Hamli, who is also the United Arab Emirates energy minister, was quoted by the official Wam news agency as saying that "oil market supplies are sufficient."
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries president said the increase in oil prices was the result of "political tensions in certain oil producing regions, market speculation and bottlenecks at refineries in consumer countries."
AFP 14 0703 GMT 06 07
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