EIA reports smaller-than-expected increase for crude supplies
By Claudia Assis and V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures trimmed losses Wednesday after a weekly government supply report showed a smaller-than-expected increase in oil supplies and steeper decreases for gasoline and other products.
Crude oil for April delivery CLJ2 -0.61% dropped 13 cents, or 0.1%, to $106.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It ticked higher after the Energy Information Administration said crude supplies rose by 1.8 million barrels in the week ended March 9. Analysts polled by Platts had expected an increase of 2.1 million barrels.
The EIA also said gasoline stockpiles decreased by 1.4 million barrels and inventories of distillates declined by 4.7 million barrels.
The analysts surveyed by Platts had expected a decline of 1.4 million barrels for gasoline supplies and a decrease of 1.5 million barrels for distillates.
April gasoline futures RBJ2 +0.27% rose 2 cents, or 0.4%, to $3.37 per gallon. April heating oil HOJ2 +0.35% advanced 1 cent, or 0.4%, to $3.29 per gallon.
Natural-gas futures NGJ12 -0.57% traded lower, off less than 1 cent, or 0.3%, to $2.29 per million British thermal units.
A higher dollar and a supply decline report by the International Energy Agency weighed on prices.
The IEA said in its monthly oil report released Wednesday it expects global oil demand to grow 0.9% in 2012, unchanged from the agency’s previous outlook.
But the IEA warned the economic backdrop and high oil prices “restrain any upside momentum for consumption.”
The agency projects global daily demand of 89.9 million barrels in 2012.
The report also showed that global oil supply fell 200,000 barrels a day in February, with the highest output level for members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries since 2008 only partly offsetting a decline from non-OPEC countries.
Concerns about potential losses related to Iran add more uncertainty for crude outlook, the agency said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar strengthened, weighing on prices of commodities. The dollar index DXY +0.48% , which compares the U.S. unit to a basket of six currencies, traded at 80.421, up from 80.231 in late North American trading on Tuesday.
