Oil Dips Thursday After Topping $73 on Storm Concerns
Crude oil saw its biggest gain of the month Wednesday on concern that Hurricane Dean could damage Gulf of Mexico platforms and on-shore refineries and pipelines, but the price rolled back in early trading Thursday, Bloomberg reported.
Crude oil futures rose 95 cents to close at $73.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday, the biggest rise since July 31, Bloomberg said.
But the price rolled back more than $2 early Thursday after a stock market decline that raised concern about economic growth and oil demand, Bloomberg said.
Hurricane Dean, though well south of the Gulf, became the first Atlantic hurricane of the season overnight, the Associated Press reported Thursday. Its track is westward toward Central America but could change, news reports said.
Tropical storm Erin, which formed Wednesday, potentially threatened oil production the Gulf, though it was forecast to moved onshore in South Texas and away from most of the state's oil refineries. (Click here for related story.)
Meanwhile, the Energy Department said crude inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels last week while gasoline stockpiles fell by 1.1 million barrels. The crude level was the lowest since April, Bloomberg reported.
Distillate inventories, which include diesel, gained 150,000 barrels, DOE said in its weekly report released Wednesday.
