Oil prices rose marginally to US$75.85 in midmorning Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after yesterday's jump, on reports of a fall in inventories of U.S. crude and gasoline and the approach of a Tropical Storm Chris that was gaining strength in the Caribbean. Forecasters say it could become the Atlantic's first full-fledged hurricane of the year.
The U.S. Department of Energy reported a fall in crude oil inventories by 1.8 million barrels in the last week of July to 333.7 million barrels. Gasoline inventories slipped by 100,000 barrels to 210.9 million barrels (1% above year-ago levels). In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures dropped marginally to $2.3350 a gallon, heating oil rose 0.26 cent to $2.1320 a gallon, natural gas prices dropped 10.9 cents to US$7.690 per thousand cubic feet.
The escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, persistent for almost three weeks, does not seem to show any signs of a quick resolution. OPEC's No. 2 supplier- Iran, backs Hezbollah and is also in the midst of a diplomatic standoff with the United Nations over its nuclear program, as it has rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution that would give his nation until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment.
03-Aug-06 
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