[Goldfisch]

Oil price hits $56.75 per barrel as US inventories dip - update 2

Thursday, June 16, 2005 6:15:51 AM ET
newratings.com

NEW YORK, June 16 (newratings.com) – The US crude oil and gasoline inventories declined last week, according to the latest government data. The nation's distillate fuel inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, increased last week.

The US Energy Department's Energy Information Agency (EIA) said in its weekly inventory report on Wednesday that the nation's crude oil stockpiles declined by 1.8 million barrels last week to 329 million barrels. The nation's gasoline inventories declined by 900,000 barrels in the week ended June 10, 2005 to 215.7 million barrels, the EIA inventory data revealed. The distillate fuel stockpiles, however, increased by 2.5 million barrels to 110.2 million barrels last week, according to the report. The US light crude price increased to as high as $56.75 per barrel in morning trade on Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), following the announcement of the inventory data. According to the EIA inventory report, the nation's average gasoline demand over the past four weeks was 3% higher than the year-ago level, while the demand for distillate fuel increased 6.5% y/y in that period. Crude oil prices continued to rise on Wednesday, despite the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), which accounts for about 40% of the world's total crude supplies, deciding to raise its output ceiling by 500,000 barrels per day to 28 million bpd.