Oil prices traded above $59 a barrel today after the U.S. government released data showing a decline in crude inventories but an increase in gasoline and distillate fuel supplies. Light sweet crude for August delivery rose 21 cents to $59.21 a barrel in early trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, benchmark Brent crude fell 8 cents at $57.42. The U.S. Energy Department's weekly petroleum report showed that domestic inventories of crude oil fell by 1.6 million barrels to 327.4 million barrels, or 8 percent above year-ago levels. Gasoline supplies grew by 200,000 barrels to 215.9 million barrels, or 4.5 percent above last year, and the supply of distillate fuel-which includes heating oil, diesel, and jet fuel-grew by 1.3 million barrels to 111.5 million barrels, or 1 percent more than last year. Crude futures are about 50 percent higher than a year ago. In a market report, PVM Oil Associates said the trend for rising prices will continue this year. "Worries of tightness ahead … are still keeping the contracts from November upwards above the $60-per-barrel threshold," it said. Traders are watching Norway, where negotiations succeeded in averting an offshore platform strike that could have cut Norwegian oil production by 1 million barrels a day. But while that strike was avoided, markets also are watching for possible unrest in Nigeria that could derail exports from Africa's largest producer.
