Crude Inventory Falls, Price Up: Oil Alert
NEW YORK (
) -- Government statistics showed a steeper fall in oil inventories than originally forecast, according to weekly figures put out this morning.
Afterward, NYMEX crude for the front-month contract was adding 92 cents at $71.85 in the early afternoon. On Tuesday, the October delivery contract gained $2.07 to settle at $70.93.
On Wednesday morning, the Energy Department said oil stockpiles fell off by 4.7 million barrels last week to 332.8 million barrels, well more than the 3 million barrels anticipated by analysts surveyed by Platts.
But before making any pronouncements of a demand surge, it's also worth noting that crude inventory levels remain at what the department tortuously calls "the upper boundary of the average range for this time of year." Meanwhile, other products also saw build-ups, with gasoline inventories gaining 500,000 barrels and distillate fuels swelling by 2.2 million barrels last week. Propane and propylene supplies went unchanged.
By early afternoon, almost all of the oil majors were tracking higher.
Exxon Mobil
(XOM) - Get Report
,
Chevron
(CVX) - Get Report
and
ConocoPhillips
(COP) - Get Report
were adding 0.7%, 1.1% and 0.7%, respectively.
Marathon Oil
(MRO) - Get Report
and
Hess
(HES) - Get Report
were big movers so far today, putting on 2.2% and 3.2% today.
But among the major energy players, it looks like
Anadarko Petroleum
(APC) - Get Report
is the big winner thus far after earlier announcing a
major oil find off the coast of West Africa. Shares were surging 9%, or $5.32, at 64.49 on higher volumes.
-- Written by Sung Moss in New York
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