Heating oil recovering after sharp fall

30/07/2009

Heating oil prices were up in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) this morning (July 30th), recovering after heavy losses yesterday.

At the close of trading yesterday, the commodity stood at $1.6713 (£1.01) per gallon, down more than nine cents on its opening price.

However, by 05:42 Eastern Time this morning, the heating oil contract had gained 1.99 cents on the gallon.

Yesterday's falls came after the Energy Information Administration published weekly demand data showing another rise in heating oil, crude and propane inventories.

Distillate inventories, which include heating oil, were found to have risen by 2.1 million barrels over the course of the week, while crude inventories climbed 5.1 million barrels.

Gasoline was the only petroleum commodity to record a drop in inventories, with sales of the fuel supported by strong demand during the summer driving season in the US.

In its previous report, the EIA had recorded a drop in gasoline inventories, alongside heating oil and other products.