US gasoline, heating oil futures decline

Crude oil prices fell again on Tuesday ahead of US inventories reports due tomorrow that are widely expected to show that refinery utilization will have grown to its highest level in ten months.

One analyst survey has predicted that crude oil inventories will be down and gasoline stockpiles higher for the week ending July 20, while another report expects refinery utilization to have grown to nearly 92 percent.

The utilization figure could be helped by news that three companies restarted refinery units in Texas last week, while another refinery in Indiana remains running at a reduced rate due to maintenance and will not be back at full production until sometime next year.

September contracts for Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange fell $1.68 to $75.18 per barrel.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery dropped $1.49 to $73.40 per barrel in early afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Nymex August gasoline was 2 cents lower to $2.09 per gallon, while September heating oil was also down 2 cents to $2.06 per gallon.

Additionally, Nymex September natural gas fell 18 cents to 5.94 per million British thermal units.