Oil prices slipped Friday after a moderate rise in the previous session on mixed interpretations of U.S. fuel stocks data, according to AP. Still, perceptions that the market was undersupplied pointed to continued near-term upward pressure. Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 29 cents to US$76.57 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. The contract added 33 cents to settle at US$76.86 a barrel Thursday. September Brent crude dropped 15 cents to US$75.61 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. The report also showed a steep jump in refinery activity and an increase in gasoline inventories. The build in gasoline stockpiles was particularly significant in that it comes at the height of the summer driving season. U.S. gasoline prices rose to record levels in the spring on concerns the refining industry was not producing enough gasoline to meet summer demand. An unusual number of unexpected refinery outages in the Northern Hemisphere spring and early summer contributed to the price run-up. Wednesday's U.S. fuel inventories report, though, added to a sense that the refining industry has finally recovered. Investors initially reacted to the EIA report Wednesday by buying oil on the news of declining crude inventories, sending oil prices to a record Nymex intraday high of US$78.77. Meanwhile, gasoline futures fell on the refinery and gasoline inventory news. As the slide in gasoline futures prices accelerated, oil prices followed. Still, upward pressure persisted on the market.
