After the previous sessions' dip, oil prices recorded marginal increase in tandem with a sell-off in gasoline futures. Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose to US$72.61 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore. August Brent dipped to US$76.35 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
The sell-off in gasoline was prompted by reports of several refineries restarting shuttered operations. Earlier this month, July 1 closure of a refinery in Coffeyville, Kansas, due to flooding, and the shutdown this week of a huge piece of oil processing equipment at a BP PLC refinery in Whiting, Indiana, sent prices in the Midwest and Plains states sharply higher, boosting the national average. Thursday's bearish sentiment was reinforced by the EIA report, which showed that gasoline inventories grew much more than expected last week. Energy futures rose to 10-month highs after a weekly EIA report in late June showed gasoline inventories dropped when analysts had expected a gain.
14-Jul-07 
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