Inventory data eases hurricane concerns on inventories

Crude oil prices for the week were affected by Hurricane Emily, which nevertheless turned out not to be a factor for US oil facilities after Hurricane Dennis had caused production to fall by 500,000 barrels per day last week.

This in turn affected the inventories data that was released on Wednesday. Those figures revealed that distillate stockpiles had grown despite the effect of Dennis, going a long way to ease fears of shortages in the fourth quarter.

The slight revaluation of China’s currency was said by analysts to be a small positive for short-term oil demand in that country, but it did not really have much of an effect on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate September contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $1.52 on Friday to $58.65 per barrel, but was down slightly for the week.

September contracts for Brent crude on the International Petroleum Exchange in London gained 93 cents on the day to $56.85, but lost 1.7 percent during the week.