Oil prices rose more than $1 Thursday and gasoline prices fell after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected decline in domestic gasoline stockpiles. Tensions over Iran's defiance of a U.N. Security Council demand that it cease uranium enrichment also supported prices, along with warning from the International Energy Agency that OPEC production was at its lowest point in more than two years, according to AP. Still, the main focus was on diminishing gasoline supplies. Total U.S. gasoline stockpiles sank by 5.5 million barrels last week to 199.7 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. Analysts had expected a 1.3 million barrel decline, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires. Traders began selling to secure gains after gasoline prices climbed, driving prices down, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. «We're basically seeing some profit-taking from gasoline to crude oil spreads,» he said. Gasoline futures fell .41 cent per gallon to $2.1546 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Looking further ahead, Vienna's PVM Oil Associates warned that «ongoing refinery outages in the U.S. continue to fuel fears of gasoline supply shortages during the upcoming peak driving season.» Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose $1.15 cents to $63.16 a barrel in early electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May rose 43 cents to $68.27 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. «The fundamentals really provided support of the prices and prevented prices from sliding too far as a result of the release of the British sailors out of Iran last week,» said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. «Prior to the seizure of the British sailors, crude oil futures were in the $61 to $62 range and today we remain in that range.» Oil prices have been volatile the last couple of weeks, gaining nearly $5 a barrel after Iran detained 15 British sailors and marines, dropping on their release last Thursday, and then sliding almost $3 Monday on expectations of oversupply at a key North American delivery point before slowly recovering somewhat. In Paris, the International Energy Agency warned that output by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries had slid to its lowest level in more than two years on production outages and self-imposed cuts. Still, a Platts survey of OPEC production last month said the average 26.54 million barrels pumped a day by OPEC members under quotes still represented overproduction of 740,000 barrels a day above the group's production target. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures gained 1 cent, fetching $1.8847 a gallon, while natural gas prices fell nearly a cent to $7.863 per 1,000 cubic feet. -- SPA
