June WTI gains limited by housing data

Crude oil prices for June contracts were higher in New York Tuesday on the possibility that US inventories fell last week, but with those contracts expiring at the end of the trading day, July contracts were lower just before noon.

West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up 30 cents to $59.33 per barrel at nearly 1 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange but a bit earlier, at just before noon in New York, July contracts had dropped 12 cents to $59.48 per barrel.

Meanwhile, at last report Brent crude was down 72 cents to $57.75 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Gains for June contracts were limited after the Commerce Department said that starts for new homes and apartments were down 12.8 percent in April to their lowest level in 50 years.

Analysts expect that tomorrow’s weekly US inventory report from the Energy Information Administration will show that crude oil stockpiles fell by 1.5 million barrels last week, while gasoline inventories probably dropped by 1.7 million barrels but distillates probably added 1.3 million barrels to stockpiles.

Nymex June gasoline futures were up nearly 2 cents to $1.78 per gallon in afternoon trade while June heating oil was up less than a cent to $1.48 per gallon and July natural gas was 21 cents lower to $4.06 per million British thermal units.