Oil Falls as Isaac Slams New Orleans
Oil prices fell to below $96 a barrelÌýWednesday as analysts saw limited production disruptions even as overnight, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures fell 84 cents to finish the trading day at at as $95.49 a barrel after closing Tuesday at $96.33, the highest New York Mercantile Exchange closingÌýprice in a week, Bloomberg said.
Also Wednesday, the Department of Energy said in its weekly inventory report that crude supplies rose last week by 3.8 million barrels, compared with the 1.5 million-barrel downturn forecasted by analysts, Bloomberg reported.
Gasoline inventories fell 1.5 million barrels, in line with forecasts, while distillates, which include diesel, rose by almost 1 million barrels, more than the 200,000-barrel increase forecast, Bloomberg said.
have risen for eight straight weeks, DOE said in its weekly price survey Monday.
Wholesale gasoline prices slipped 1.3% early Wednesday, a day after the motorist group AAA reported a 1.3% increase in retail pump prices to $3.804 a gallon.
Energy companies halted 93% of oil production and 67% of natural-gas output in the Gulf of Mexico as Isaac neared the Louisiana coast, Bloomberg reported.
Six refineries in Louisiana were shut and three were running at reduced rates, idling almost 7% of U.S. capacity, Bloomberg said.
Oil prices also fell after the Group of Seven industrialized nations said that high prices could hurt economic recovery, Bloomberg reported.
