NEW YORK -- Oil prices rose on Wednesday, gaining some ground after seven straight days of drops as the U.S. government reported a decrease in the nation's crude inventories.
U.S. crude inventories fell 2.6 million barrels to 327.7 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. They're still 5.6 percent above year-ago levels, though, and above the upper end of the average range for this time of year.
Light sweet crude for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 25 cents to $64.01 a barrel in midday trading. The contract had settled at $63.76, down $1.85, on Tuesday -- the lowest front-month closing price since March 22.
"After seven straight down days, this market is due for a bounce," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.
The drop in crude stocks was larger than expected, but the increase in distillate fuels -- which include heating oil, a key commodity as the winter approaches -- was bigger than most analysts had forecast.
According to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts, U.S. crude oil inventories were expected to fall 1.5 million barrels, while distillates stocks were expected to gain 1.6 million barrels (...)
No comments:
Post a Comment