Crude Oil Trades Little Changed After U.S. Inventory Report

By Grant Smith

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil traded little changed after rallying yesterday on a decline in U.S. gasoline stockpiles caused by reduced imports and refinery processing.

Gasoline supplies dropped 6.39 million barrels to 202.8 million barrels last week, the biggest decline since October 2002, the Energy Department said yesterday. Petroleum product imports fell to the lowest since April 2005 and refinery rates were 1.1 percentage points lower as oil companies prepared for Edouard, a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that lost strength as it moved inland.

``Yesterday's numbers were less bullish than the headline would suggest, as a lot of the product draws were more a result of lost output on the Gulf Coast due to precautionary closures ahead of Tropical Storm Edouard,'' said Harry Tchilinguirian, senior oil analyst at BNP Paribas SA in London.

Crude oil for September delivery was at $115.84 a barrel, 16 cents or 0.1 percent higher at 12:41 p.m. London time on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It earlier rose as much as $1.42 or 1.2 percent to $117.42.

Yesterday, futures increased $2.99, or 2.6 percent, to settle at $116 a barrel, the biggest one-day gain since July 30.

Refineries in the U.S. operated at 85.9 percent of capacity, down 1.1 percentage points from the week before, the Energy Department report showed. Petroleum-product imports fell 17 percent to 2.6 million barrels a day, the lowest since the week ended April 1, 2005, it showed.

U.S. fuel demand averaged 20.2 million barrels a day during the past four weeks, down 2.8 percent from a year earlier, the department said. Gasoline consumption averaged 9.4 million barrels a day over the period, down 1.9 percent from a year ago.

Brent crude oil for September settlement fell 18 cents to $113.29 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange at 12:43 p.m. London time. The contract expires today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net