EIA: Crude oil, gasoline stockpiles down last week

Crude oil prices were higher Wednesday as analysts and investors kept an eye on weather forecasts and the US Energy Information Administration said that oil and gasoline inventories declined again last week.

The EIA said that crude oil stockpiles were down by 5.2 million barrels in the week ending August 10 against an expected drop of just 2.3 million barrels, while gasoline inventories were down 1.1 million barrels during the week to 201.9 million barrels.

The decline in gasoline stockpiles was about 200,000 barrels higher than had been anticipated even though refinery utilization was up to about 91.8 percent during the week.

Distillates, including heating oil and diesel fuel, added 200,000, lower than the 1.2 million barrel gain analysts had expected.

Tropical Storm Erin was expected to make landfall in Texas within the next day, bringing with it an expected 2 to 5 inches of rain which caused the National Weather Service to issue flood warnings for the Texas Gulf Coast, home to nearly a third of the oil refineries in the United States.

Also worrying was Tropical Storm Dean, which could strengthen into a hurricane within the next couple of days and which some forecasters believe might enter the Gulf of Mexico.

West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was 95 cents higher to $73.33 per barrel in mid-afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while September contracts for Brent crude was up $1.67 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

Nymex September gasoline was 4 cents higher to $2.10 per gallon, while September heating oil was also up 4 cents to $2.03 per gallon.

October natural gas dropped 9 cents to $7.04 per million British thermal units.