Crude oil futures rallied $2 Friday after three days of declines, as petroleum products soared and traders established bullish bets ahead of the long weekend. The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed as much as $2 to $58.50 a barrel in midday trading, AP reported. Meanwhile, heating oil futures trading on the Nymex rose to a new high, pushed up by continued speculation that demand will outpace supply. The new front-month August heating oil futures contract climbed to an all-time high of $1.7350 a gallon, up nearly 10 cents on the day. The previous record of $1.6950 a gallon had been reached in early April amid a rally in energy futures. The heating oil rally came as part of a broad-based rally in energy futures ahead of the long Fourth of July holiday weekend. Glitches in refinery operations as well as the possibility of a hurricane forming in the Gulf of Mexico next week prompted traders to cover recently established short positions and to establish new bullish bets.
