Oil Fluctuates After Crude Inventories Gain, Distillates Shrink

Oil fluctuated in New York after its biggest gain in a week. An industry report showed U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles increased last week while distillate inventories fell.

West Texas Intermediate futures were little changed after advancing 0.5 percent yesterday, rebounding from the biggest decline in two months. Oil supplies climbed 3.63 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute said. Distillate fuel inventories dropped 1.45 million barrels while gasoline stockpiles added 1.56 million. The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its inventory report at 10:30 a.m. today in Washington.

Crude for March delivery was at $96.66 a barrel, up 2 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:57 a.m. Sydney time. The contract rose to $96.64 yesterday, the biggest gains since Jan. 29. Prices slid 1.6 percent on Feb. 4, the most since Dec. 6. The volume of all contracts traded was 11 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for March settlement climbed 92 cents to $116.52 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The European benchmark grade closed at a premium of $19.88 to WTI futures, expanding a fifth day to the widest since Dec. 27. The gap has grown since Enterprise Product Partners LP said Jan. 31 that capacity on the Seaway pipeline to the Gulf Coast from Cushing, Oklahoma, will be limited until late 2013.

The EIA report may show supplies of oil increased 2.65 million barrels last week, according to the median of eight responses in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Gasoline stockpiles gained 900,000 barrels and distillate inventories declined 625,000 barrels in the survey.

API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy Department for its weekly survey.

(source: Bloomberg)