Oil climbed in New York as a fire shut a unit at a Philadelphia refinery and a government report showed U.S. gasoline supplies plunged the most in 12 years. Futures rose as much as 1 percent after Sunoco Inc. said it closed a fluid catalytic cracker in the Girard Point section of its refinery after a “small” fire. Gasoline supplies dropped 7 million barrels to 209.7 million last week, an Energy Department report showed yesterday. Stockpiles of the fuel have slipped 31.4 million barrels in the past eight weeks. “The crude oil market is being pulled higher by gasoline,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “The shutdown of the Sunoco FCC will tighten gasoline supplies in New York Harbor. This comes on top of a 31 million-barrel drop in gasoline stocks and a big drop in refinery ruins.” Crude oil for May delivery increased 85 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $107.96 a barrel at 10:54 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 26 percent from a year ago. Gasoline for May delivery climbed 0.92 cent, or 0.3 percent, to $3.2516 a gallon in New York. East Coast refineries processed 621,000 barrels of crude- oil in the week ended April 8, a 28 percent drop and the lowest level since at least 1992, according to the Energy Department. “Refineries on the East Coast were running at incredibly low rates prior to the Sunoco shutdown,” McGillian said. The Sunoco refinery has a capacity of 355,000 barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tandem Move “Gasoline and crude oil tend to move in tandem,” said Rick Mueller, a principal with ESAI Energy, LLC in Wakefield, Massachusetts. “Other refiners are going to have to take up the slack and ramp up production, which will boost crude-oil demand.” U.S. gasoline consumption peaks during the driving season that runs from the Memorial Day holiday in late May to Labor Day in early September, when Americans traditionally take vacations. “Anything that shuts a cracker will grab folks’ attention, especially on the eve of gasoline season, and when stocks are dropping like a stone,” Mueller said. Prices have advanced 17 percent this year as unrest spread from Tunisia to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. Elections in Nigeria this month may lead to decreased output from Africa’s top crude-producing country. Brent oil for May settlement slipped 38 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $122.50 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. May futures expire tomorrow. The more actively traded June contract declined 18 cents to $122.15. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.

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