Oil hits $66.15, again on supply worries<\/p>\n
Associated Press, Budapest<\/p>\n
Crude oil prices remained in record territory after soaring to
\nnew highs Friday past US$66 a barrel as reports of new U.S.
\nrefinery outages rekindled fears that gasoline supplies in the
\nworld's biggest consumer would struggle to meet rising demand.<\/p>\n
A spate of refinery glitches, an unusually active hurricane
\nseason in the U.S. and concerns over Iran's decision to resume
\nuranium conversion activities weighed heavily on people's minds,
\npushing prices upward, analysts said.<\/p>\n
Tropical Storm Irene was expected to intensify on Friday and
\npossibly reach hurricane strength as it approached the U.S. East
\nCoast, forecasters said.<\/p>\n
Irene's potential threat to land was still uncertain, as its
\npath had shifted east, according to forecasters at the National
\nHurricane Center in Miami.<\/p>\n
Forecasters said the storm could strike the coast anywhere
\nfrom South Carolina to New Jersey.<\/p>\n
With bullish sentiment unabated and crude prices hitting
\nconsecutive highs this week, analysts expect front-month crude
\ncontracts to test the US$70 a barrel threshold.<\/p>\n
Light, sweet crude for September delivery gained 23 U.S. cents
\nto $66.03 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting a
\nnew record high at $66.15 a barrel in earlier trading.<\/p>\n
In London, Brent crude for September delivery was trading at
\n$65.69 a barrel, up 31 U.S. cents.<\/p>\n
Analysts said gasoline demand, currently at its peak in the
\nU.S. summer driving season, was driving crude's gains. Last week,
\nU.S. gasoline demand picked up by 1.4 percent from a year ago,
\naccording to government data.<\/p>\n
Coupled with new reports of refinery outages this week,
\ntraders fear U.S. refiners, already running at near-maximized
\ncapacities, are straining to satisfy the rising demand.<\/p>\n
\"People fear there won't be enough gasoline at a time when
\nit's so greatly demanded, so they're just buying, buying and
\nbuying,\" said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui
\nBussan Futures in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
Oil prices are almost 50 percent higher than a year ago, but
\nthey would need to surpass $90 a barrel to exceed the inflation-
\nadjusted peak set in 1980.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Energy Department said on Wednesday that gasoline
\ninventories fell 2.1 million barrels to 203.1 million last week.<\/p>\n
\"The refinery breakdowns are a big issue, they're happening at
\na time when gasoline supplies are already very tight,\" Emori
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Among the latest refinery outages: several units at
\nConocoPhillips' 306,000 barrel-a-day Wood River, Illinois,
\nrefinery were shut after a thunderstorm caused a power failure at
\nthe plant.<\/p>\n
Also, BP PLC shut down a hydrogen recovery unit Aug. 10 at its
\nmassive 470,000 barrel-a-day Texas City refinery, following a
\ndecision by the company to keep high-pressure units off line
\nuntil they can be proven safe, BP Spokesman Scott Dean said
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
The three other high-pressure units at the refinery -- the
\nresidual hydrotreater, the ultracracker and the gas oil
\nhydrotreater -- were already off line on Wednesday and will be
\nkept down pending investigations, Dean said.<\/p>\n
The incidents are the latest in a string of outages to hit
\nabout a dozen U.S. refineries that together can process 2.7
\nmillion barrels a day of crude oil, some 16 percent of total U.S.
\nrefining capacity.<\/p>",
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