|
Oil jumps as reserves fall
|
 |
October 11, 2000: 5:19 a.m. ET
Decline in US heating fuel stocks adds to tension over Mideast supplies
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Crude oil prices jumped sharply in London Wednesday morning after the American Petroleum Institute said already thin U.S. fuel stockpiles declined last week as weather turned colder in key parts of North America.
Brent crude for November delivery surged 68 cents to $32.53 a barrel on London's International Petroleum Exchange. NYMEX November crude was trading 64 cents higher at $33.82 in off-hours ACCESS activity. Gas oil was up $8.25 at $321.75 a ton.
 Oil traders were concerned that violence between Israelis and Palestinians, which went into its 13th day on Tuesday, could draw Arab oil-producing countries into the fray and lead to a disruption of oil supplies from the region, the major source of oil for the industrialized West.
Weekly inventory figures from the API showed an across-the-board fall in U.S. stocks of crude and refined products, with especially large declines for crude oil and middle distillates, which include winter heating oil.
The API said U.S. crude stocks fell by 3.9 million barrels in the week to Oct. 6, while stockpiles of distillates dropped 3.3 million barrels and gasoline by 936,000 barrels.
Weather Services Corp., a weather forecast service, warned Tuesday that the U.S. northeast, already gripped by a cold spell that has put early strain on home heating fuel supplies, is set for two more chilly blasts next week. 
--from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
