Crude prices up on inventories speculation

Crude oil prices were up in New York on Monday after early declines on worries about the economy as new data showed that existing homes sales dropped in July for the fifth month in a row.

Helping push prices up was analyst opinion that gasoline inventories in the US will likely be lower again when last week’s data is released by the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery gained 51 cents to $71.60 per barrel, while October contracts for Brent crude dropped 17 cents to $70.45 per barrel.

Nymex September gasoline was unchanged, trading at $1.98 per gallon, while October heating oil also held steady at $2.01 per gallon.

October natural gas fell 18 cents to $5.56 per million British thermal units.