Crude Up on Expected Inventory Drop

Crude oil futures were moving higher Wednesday morning on speculation that the Energy Information Administration will likely report today that U.S. gasoline inventories fell again last week.

September West Texas crude was recently adding $1.42 at $115.95 a barrel, and Brent futures were up $1.55 at $114.80 a barrel. Reformulated gasoline was up 4 cents at $2.90 a gallon, heating oil was also up 4 cents at $3.17 a gallon, and natural gas was up 13 cents at $8.10 per million British thermal units.

The Energy Information Administration will release its latest weekly petroleum inventory report at 10:35 a.m. EDT.

Elsewhere, energy stocks were advancing in early Wednesday trading, buoyed by rising energy commodity prices. ConocoPhillips (COP Quote - Cramer on COP - Stock Picks) was recently edging 1.4% higher at $80.32, Chevron (CVX Quote - Cramer on CVX - Stock Picks) was 1.6% higher at $86.32, Petrobras (PBR Quote - Cramer on PBR - Stock Picks) was gaining 2.8% at $51.10, and Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote - Cramer on XOM - Stock Picks) was up almost 1% at $78.70.

The U.S. Oil Fund(USO Quote - Cramer on USO - Stock Picks), an exchange-traded fund that closely tracks the performance of WTI crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange, was recently climbing 1.4% at $94.02.