Oil prices rose on Thursday in Asia after a US government report showed big declines in crude and gasoline stockpiles and an unexpected drop in refinery activity.
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.
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.
Oil inventories
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.
"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 (3.8 litres), 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.
source:www.ndtvprofit.com
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