Crude sees only small increases

Crude oil prices rose on Friday for the second straight day, but the increases were small compared to those last week and Brent crude fell by 4 percent from its level at the beginning of the week, while West Texas Intermediate was down 4.4 percent on the week.

WTI October contracts on the New York Mercantile exchange was up 11 cents on Friday to $64.60 per barrel, while Brent crude for October delivery gained 32 cents on the day to $$63.40 per barrel.

One analyst said that considering the lack of interest by investors in recent sessions as well as low trading volumes points to the conclusion that the only reason to think oil prices might rise right now is that refinery output has been slowed by damage from Hurricane Katrina.

According to information from the International Energy Agency, demand is indeed down. The IEA cut its demand forecast for global oil demand to 1.35 million barrels per day, down by 250,000 barrels per day.

Nymex gasoline futures for October lost 5 cents on Friday, down to $1.9850 per gallon, and have gone down by 9 percent since the beginning of the week.

Meanwhile, the US Energy Information Authority reported that the week ending September 2 saw the highest rise in at-the-pump prices of gasoline in the US in history, a rise of 45.9 percent.

Nymex heating oil prices were up 0.5 cent on Friday to $1.9350, but were down over the week by around 7.5 percent. Prices on Nymex October Henry hub natural gas were down marginally on Friday, to $11.190 per million British thermal units, and declined by 3.4 percent during the week.