Crude prices gain on data, ahead of inventories report

Crude oil prices were a little higher Wednesday ahead of a holiday-delayed inventories report from the US Energy Information Administration which is expected to show that crude inventories fell last week while gasoline and distillates inventories are anticipated to be slightly higher.

The gains also came ahead of a monthly US jobs report, due Friday, after the National Association of Realtors said that pending home sales were up 6 percent in April, to a six-month higher, as buyers hurried to qualify for a tax credit, and on gains in US equities markets.

July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up 92 cents to $73.50 per barrel in early afternoon trade, while August contracts had added $1.03 to $75.01 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, Brent crude was $1.55 higher to $74.26 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex July gasoline futures were up 5 cents to $2.04 per gallon in afternoon trade, while July heating oil futures had added 4 cents to $2.02 per gallon and July natural gas was 13 cents higher to $4.38 per million British thermal units.

The retail price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline dropped 0.4 cent overnight to $2.723 per gallon on average nationally, with the lowest statewide average at $2.478 per gallon in Missouri.

Even premium gasoline’s average price has dropped below $3 per gallon nationally, to $2.995 per gallon.