Oil Pulls Back After Topping $135 a Barrel
Crude oil fell from a record high of more than $135 a barrel Thursday, as a Congressional panel grilled oil executives for a second day in Washington, Bloomberg reported.
Oil closed at $130.69 a barrel, down $2.48 from Wednesday’s record New York Mercantile Exchange closing price of $133.17 a barrel, Bloomberg said.
The price rose $4 Wednesday, just a day after crossing $129 for the first time. The price reached as high as $135.09 early Thursday, an overall record.
Meanwhile, House lawmakers for a second day questioned oil company executives on record profits and high executive salaries in a time of soaring prices, news services reported.
Several executives said Thursday that the rising price of crude was trimming profit margins and that oil companies wanted more access to U.S. domestic production areas.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday in a front-page story that an International Energy Agency official warned of a coming oil-production crunch, as the group prepares to release a comprehensive supply survey in November, Bloomberg reported.
Oil prices have soared almost 20% this month alone and more than 40% this year, Bloomberg said.
U.S. oil inventories plunged 5.3 million barrels last week, the Energy Department said Wednesday. That was in contrast to a 300,000-barrel increase that was forecast by analysts, Bloomberg reported.
Gasoline inventories fell 760,000 barrels, while distillates, which include diesel, gained 730,000 barrels, DOE said in its weekly report.
Gasoline and heating oil futures, a close proxy for diesel, both reached record highs on the Nymex on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
