Oil Rises From 12-Day Low on Forecast
Apr-10-2007
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose from a 12-day low in New York on speculation rising gasoline demand and prolonged refinery maintenance may have cut U.S. motor-fuel supplies for a ninth straight week.
A government report tomorrow will probably show U.S. gasoline inventories fell 1.4 million barrels last week, based on a survey of 10 analysts. Refiners usually increase output this time of year to meet peak summer driving demand. Oil plunged yesterday after Iran''s return of captured British naval personnel eased concerns about supplies from the Middle East.
"I still think we're going higher," said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures Inc. in Huntington Beach, California. "We're just at the beginning of the driving season" and refiners will be raising production in coming weeks, he said.
Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as 32 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $61.83 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $61.76 at 8 a.m. in Singapore.
The contract tumbled $2.77, or 4.3 percent, to $61.51 a barrel yesterday, the lowest close since March 21 and the biggest one-day decline since Jan. 4.
Crude-oil supplies in Cushing, Oklahoma, where oil traded in New York is delivered, surged 12 percent in the week ended March 30, according to Energy Department data. Fires and power outages have forced refiners to shut units, reducing crude-oil demand and slowing efforts to stockpile fuel for the summer.
"It looks like we will see record inventories in Cushing this week because of all of the refinery outages," James Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois, said yesterday.
Emergency Flaring
Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, yesterday said it is conducting emergency flaring at its 240,000 barrel a day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.
Motiva Enterprises LLC, the refining joint venture between Europe's Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Arabia's state oil company, said the failure of a sulfur-recovery unit at its 285,000 barrel-a-day plant in the city required emergency flaring on April 8.
Gasoline for May delivery rose 1.99 cents, or 1 percent, to $2.1145 a gallon in after-hours trading. It fell 3.42 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $2.0946 yesterday.
Gasoline inventories plunged 9.7 percent to 205.2 million barrels in the eight weeks ended March 30, according to Energy Department data. Demand, based on deliveries from refineries, jumped to a 15-week high that week, and averaged 9.3 million barrels a day in the four weeks, 1.7 percent more than the same period a year earlier, the department said last week.
Oil Stockpiles
The department's weekly inventory report tomorrow will probably show U.S. crude-oil supplies rose to a four-month high last week as fires and plant breakdowns slowed refinery demand.
Oil stockpiles probably gained 1.95 million barrels last week, from 332.7 million barrels on March 30, based on the median estimate from the Bloomberg News analyst survey. Refinery utilization probably rose to 87.5 percent, from 87 percent the two previous weeks.
Oil futures reached $68.09 a barrel on March 27, the highest since Sept. 6, after Iran seized 15 British marines and sailors in the Persian Gulf. They were returned to the U.K. on April 5.
Iran is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Almost a quarter of the global supply flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman at the mouth of the Gulf.
A government report tomorrow will probably show U.S. gasoline inventories fell 1.4 million barrels last week, based on a survey of 10 analysts. Refiners usually increase output this time of year to meet peak summer driving demand. Oil plunged yesterday after Iran''s return of captured British naval personnel eased concerns about supplies from the Middle East.
"I still think we're going higher," said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures Inc. in Huntington Beach, California. "We're just at the beginning of the driving season" and refiners will be raising production in coming weeks, he said.
Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as 32 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $61.83 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $61.76 at 8 a.m. in Singapore.
The contract tumbled $2.77, or 4.3 percent, to $61.51 a barrel yesterday, the lowest close since March 21 and the biggest one-day decline since Jan. 4.
Crude-oil supplies in Cushing, Oklahoma, where oil traded in New York is delivered, surged 12 percent in the week ended March 30, according to Energy Department data. Fires and power outages have forced refiners to shut units, reducing crude-oil demand and slowing efforts to stockpile fuel for the summer.
"It looks like we will see record inventories in Cushing this week because of all of the refinery outages," James Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois, said yesterday.
Emergency Flaring
Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, yesterday said it is conducting emergency flaring at its 240,000 barrel a day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.
Motiva Enterprises LLC, the refining joint venture between Europe's Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Arabia's state oil company, said the failure of a sulfur-recovery unit at its 285,000 barrel-a-day plant in the city required emergency flaring on April 8.
Gasoline for May delivery rose 1.99 cents, or 1 percent, to $2.1145 a gallon in after-hours trading. It fell 3.42 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $2.0946 yesterday.
Gasoline inventories plunged 9.7 percent to 205.2 million barrels in the eight weeks ended March 30, according to Energy Department data. Demand, based on deliveries from refineries, jumped to a 15-week high that week, and averaged 9.3 million barrels a day in the four weeks, 1.7 percent more than the same period a year earlier, the department said last week.
Oil Stockpiles
The department's weekly inventory report tomorrow will probably show U.S. crude-oil supplies rose to a four-month high last week as fires and plant breakdowns slowed refinery demand.
Oil stockpiles probably gained 1.95 million barrels last week, from 332.7 million barrels on March 30, based on the median estimate from the Bloomberg News analyst survey. Refinery utilization probably rose to 87.5 percent, from 87 percent the two previous weeks.
Oil futures reached $68.09 a barrel on March 27, the highest since Sept. 6, after Iran seized 15 British marines and sailors in the Persian Gulf. They were returned to the U.K. on April 5.
Iran is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Almost a quarter of the global supply flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman at the mouth of the Gulf.
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