Inventories report sends crude oil prices higher

Crude oil prices were higher on Thursday following the release of the Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on US inventories. Prices were also hurt by several closures in the industry as well as continuing concern over the dispute between Iran and Western nations over Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

Among the industry problems was an announcement from Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO), which said that its McKee refinery in Texas will not be able to achieve even a partial restart for several weeks after a fire damaged it last week. Meanwhile, BP (NYSE: BP; LSE: BP; TYO: 5051) announced that it will return it’s Northstar field in Alaska to service next week after it was shut down due to a leak. The Northstar field produces around 40,000 barrels per day.

The EIA said that crude oil inventories were up by 3.7 million barrels in the week ending February 16. The gain was three times that anticipated by analysts. However, gasoline inventories dropped by 3.1 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 5 million barrels. Distillates were only expected do decline by 3.3 million barrels, while gasoline stockpiles were only expected to be 900,000 barrels lower.

West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery dropped 88 cents by the close to $60.95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after going as high as $61.25 earlier in the session. Nymex March gasoline added 5.03 cents to $1.7575 per gallon, while Nymex March heating oil gained 4.34 cents to $1.7250 per gallon.