Energy Rises With Broader Market

Energy futures ended Wednesday's trading session broadly higher after the Energy Information Administration reported new inventory figures that took analysts by surprise.

The June light sweet crude contract climbed $1.29 to close at $65.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Reformulated gasoline jumped 6 cents to $2.28 a gallon. Heating oil rose 5 cents to $1.90 a gallon.

The near-term natural gas contract edged 9 cents higher to $7.69 per million British thermal units.

The EIA startled traders by lowering last week's refinery utilization rate from 90.4% to 87.8%. Analysts at Bloomberg were expecting an increase in refinery utilization to 90.9%

The drop in utilization was surprising, because refineries are usually bringing units on line after spring maintenance and increasing their output of refined products in late April. "Refinery numbers always get higher this time of year," says Dennis Gartman, publisher of The Gartman Letter. "Today's adjustment was very odd. It was a big slip."

The slide in utilization was likely due to refiners being cautious as they restart segments of their plants, rather than because of refinery fires or other serious accidents, according to Kyle Cooper, director of research at IAF Advisors in Houston.

Because of the lower utilization figures, refineries purchased less crude oil and produced smaller amounts of products such as gasoline than analysts were expecting last week.