West Texas
Intermediate oil advanced for a second day as U.S. durable goods orders gained
more than forecast in May and on expectations that crude stockpiles fell last
week.
Prices
increased as much as 1 percent as bookings for goods meant to last at least
three years climbed 3.6 percent, the Commerce Department said in
Crude
supplies probably dropped 1.75 million barrels to 392.4 million in the week
ended June 21 as refiners boosted gasoline production to meet rising demand,
the survey showed.
Refineries
probably operated at 89.6 percent of capacity as of June 21, up 0.3 percentage
point from the prior week. That would be the highest level since Dec. 28.
The Energy
Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly petroleum report
at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.
Demand for
gasoline rose 2.2 percent in the week ended June 14 to 8.84 million barrels a
day, the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm, said last week. Total
petroleum consumption increased 2.8 percent to 18.4 million.
WTI for
August delivery climbed 53 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $95.71 a barrel at 11:37
a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was
74 percent higher than the 100-day average. Prices have slipped 1.6 percent
this quarter, curbing their gains in 2013 to 4.2 percent.
Brent for
August settlement increased 67 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $101.83 a barrel on
the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 17 percent below the
100-day average. Brent’s premium to WTI widened to as much as $6.35 a barrel
from yesterday’s $5.98, the least since January 2011.