Oil Rises After Industry Report Shows Drop in Gasoline Supplies

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose after an industry report showed a decline in gasoline inventories in the U.S., the world’s largest energy consumer.

Oil climbed from an eight-week low as gasoline supplies fell 69,000 barrels, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute said yesterday. A report today from the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration may show that stockpiles gained for a fifth week, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“The API numbers could be an indication that the EIA number tonight could be a little less bearish than they have been the last few weeks,” said Toby Hassall, a research analyst at Commodity Warrants Australia Pty in Sydney. “If we were to see the department come out with something other than an increase in stockpiles that would be somewhat supportive, considering we’ve had four straight weeks of increase.”

Crude oil for August delivery gained as much as 36 cents, or 0.6 percent to $59.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $59.83 at 8:47 a.m. Sydney time. Yesterday, it declined to $59.52, the lowest settlement since May 18.

The Energy Department report will probably show gasoline inventories climbed 875,000 barrels in the week ended July 10, according to the median of 14 responses in the Bloomberg News survey.

The department is scheduled to release its weekly petroleum supply report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. The API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the energy Department for its weekly survey.