By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures gave back some of the previous session’s big gains, as gasoline stood as the lone energy product to trade in the black Thursday.
Crude oil for December delivery (CLZ10 82.12, -0.42, -0.51%) retreated 36 cents, or 0.5%, to $82.16 a barrel. The contract posted an intraday low of $81.36 a barrel earlier.
Prices recouped some of the earlier losses as the dollar was weaker and equities opened higher, helped by blue-chip stocks such as Caterpillar Inc. (CAT 79.64, -0.68, -0.85%) and McDonald’s Corp. (MCD 79.08, +1.67, +2.16%) beating earnings expectations.
Natural-gas futures slumped on expectations of a higher-than-average increase in inventories.
In oil-related news, Chinese officials said China processed 8.49 million barrels of crude oil per day in September, 6.6% more than last year and its second highest level ever.
“China is therefore still the main pillar of global oil demand. There is also speculation that China could increase its retail fuel prices for the first time since April. Given the higher refining margins, this could prompt refineries to process even more crude oil,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a report to clients Thursday.
Crude-oil futures rose nearly 3% on Wednesday as the dollar was weaker and the weekly government report showed a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. crude supplies.
Meanwhile, gasoline for November delivery (RBX10 2.09, +0.05, +2.47%) gained less than a penny to $2.09 a gallon.
November natural gas (NGX10 3.47, -0.07, -2.03%) retreated 7 cents, or 2%, to $3.47 per million British thermal units on expectations of a larger-than-average increase in inventories.
The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly report on natural gas supplies at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Analysts polled by Platts expect a net increase of 86 billion to 90 billion cubic feet to the nation’s natural-gas storages for the week ended Oct. 15.
A rise within these lines would be larger than the increase of 23 billion cubic feet seen in the comparable week in 2009 and a five-year average of 54 billion cubic feet.
