Crude oil in volatile trade on excess supplies

Crude oil prices were lower for much of the session Thursday, falling as far as $69.83 per barrel in New York trade at one point, but by close to the end of the floor trade session, West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up 91 cents to $72.34 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

At last report, however, Brent crude was still down 25 cents to $71.40 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The volatile trade came as analysts worried about excess crude oil in storage at a time when demand by refiners continues to be low.

The US Energy Information Administration said that natural gas stockpiles were up by 54 billion cubic feet last week to 3.26 trillion cubic feet, taking inventories to 18 percent above the five-year average and sending Nymex October natural gas futures down 7 cents to $3.22 per million British thermal units.

Nymex September gasoline was down 2 cents during the session to $1.98 per gallon while October heating oil futures added a cent to $1.89 per gallon.

Meanwhile, the retail price of gasoline in the US was down 0.2 cent overnight to $2.62 per gallon, still $1.04 less expensive than it was last year at this time.