AP News, August 2nd, 2007
Energy futures rose slightly Thursday as investors sorted through conflicting interpretations of data from a government inventory report.
At the pump, meanwhile, retail gas prices, which typically lag the futures market, extended their declines.
Analysts say energy investors are engaged in a tug of war over the meaning of Wednesday's weekly inventory report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. The report showed crude oil stocks declined by 6.5 million barrels last week, far more than the 690,000-barrel decline analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had expected.
But it also showed a steep jump in refinery activity and an increase in gasoline inventories. The build in gasoline stockpiles was particularly significant in that it comes at the height of summer driving season, said Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Inc.
"That certainly made a bearish statement," Evans said. "We're starting to recognize that an increased refinery operating rate is not necessarily a net bullish factor for the market."
Light, sweet crude for September delivery added 33 cents to settle at $76.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. September gasoline rose 0.66 cent to settle at $2.0362 a gallon. Both contracts slid sharply on Wednesday, and both alternated between gains and losses on Thursday.
At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices slipped 0.2 cent overnight to a national average of $2.865 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices peaked at $3.227 in late May.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil for September rose 0.52 cent to settle at $2.0746. Natural gas futures fell 24.6 cents to settle at $6.106 per 1,000 cubic feet after the government reported that gas inventories grew by 77 billion cubic feet last week, in line with expectations.
