Crude Oil Rises a Second Day on Lower U.S. Gasoline Supplies

Christian Schmollinger
Bloomberg
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008

Crude oil rose for a second day after a U.S. Energy Department report yesterday showed a bigger- than-forecast decline in inventories of gasoline as refiners shut units and imports fell.

Gasoline supplies dropped 6.39 million barrels to 202.8 million barrels last week, the biggest decline since October 2002 when tropical storms disrupted Gulf of Mexico output. Gold, silver and nickel also rebounded on speculation declines since July were exaggerated.

“The product numbers were weaker than expected and that pushed the prices higher,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. “The oil price had come down fairly sharply over the previous few days, so there was a reaction to that.”

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Crude oil for September delivery rose as much as 96 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $116.96 a barrel, and was at $116.70 at 3:14 p.m. Singapore time on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Yesterday, futures increased $2.99, or 2.6 percent, to settle at $116 a barrel, the biggest one-day gain since July 30. Prices are up 61 percent from a year ago.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles were forecast to drop 2.15 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Oil prices fell 5.8 percent in the previous three days to yesterday’s session.

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