New York crude prices fall ahead of EIA inventories report

Crude oil prices were lower in New York on Tuesday after two separate surveys indicated that analysts expect tomorrow’s weekly inventories report to show gains in crude and gasoline stockpiles, while investors also remained concerned about demand in China after the government there raised interest rates for the third time since October.

The People’s Bank of China raised the one-year lending rate to 6.06 percent,, from 5.81 percent, while the deposit rate went up from 2.75 percent to 3 percent as the Asian nation made another move to rein in inflation.

One survey had analysts expecting the US Energy Information Administration to report tomorrow that crude oil stockpiles were up by 2.4 million barrels last week, while a separate survey showed an expectation that US gasoline inventories will be up by 2 million barrels, while gasoline stockpiles likely added 2.6 million barrels last week to take inventories of the fuel to their highest in nearly 18 years.

The expectations pushed prices lower at a time when demand remains weak in the United States.

March contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was down 67 cents to $86.81 per barrel in afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but Brent crude was last reported 40 cents higher on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex March gasoline futures were 2 cents higher to $2.47 per gallon and March heating oil futures had added a cent to $2.72 per gallon, but March natural gas futures were 5 cents lower to $4.05 per million thermal units.

The retail price of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States was down overnight to $3.117 per gallon on average nationally.