Crude-oil futures slipped in Asia Wednesday, confined to tight ranges, as investors weighed the impact of Hurricane Isaac on energy markets and awaited additional macroeconomic and inventory data.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at $96.00 a barrel at 0519 GMT, down $0.33 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.11 to $112.47 a barrel.
Isaac has attained hurricane strength, but the odds of the storm turning into a more destructive Category 3 hurricane are low, traders said.
The storm made landfall in southeast Louisiana Tuesday night. As of 0200 GMT, it was bearing maximum sustained winds of about 80 miles an hour, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
"The jury is still out regarding the breadth and duration of refinery downtime in the Gulf coast region due to Hurricane Isaac," energy consulting firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note.
Oil prices gained 0.9% on Tuesday, but gasoline futures closed lower, as it is likely "that there will be no structural damage to refinery activities in the Gulf and that [facilities that have been affected by the storm] will be working overtime to ramp activity back up in order to share further in elevated margins," Ritterbusch said.
Meanwhile, American Petroleum Institute data issued Tuesday showed crude-oil inventories rose 5.5 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 24, putting pressure on oil prices.
Investors will be watching inventory data from the Energy Information Administration, due at 1430 GMT, that analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires forecast would show oil inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels in the week. Numbers in line with the API's will likely prompt a steeper selloff.
Global markets are waiting for further cues from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday. Recent data have muddied the outlook for economic stimulus.
"The upbeat U.S. housing data was offset by downbeat U.S. consumer confidence, leaving no clues to investors on further easing from the U.S. Fed ahead of Friday's Jackson Hole meeting," Singapore-based OCBC Bank said.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for September--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 33 points to $3.1228 a gallon, while September heating oil traded at $3.1195, 8 points lower.
ICE gasoil for September changed hands at $982.25 a metric ton, up $3.25 from Tuesday's settlement.
