Crude Oil Gains a Second Day on Signs of Increased U.S. Demand

June 21 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose for a second day in New York amid signs of increased fuel demand in the U.S., the biggest energy consuming nation.

Oil for July delivery gained 74 cents, or 1 percent, to $77.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:03 a.m. Sydney time. Prices increased 4.6 percent last week, advancing for a second week, along with equities.

Oil may rise this week after U.S. gasoline demand climbed 1.6 percent to 9.34 million barrels a day, the highest level since August, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Eleven of 21 analysts, or 52 percent, predicted crude will increase.

On June 18, oil gained 39 cents, or 0.5 percent, to settle at $77.18 a barrel in New York. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose to the highest level in a month.

Brent crude for August settlement gained 84 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $79.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. It dropped 46 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $78.22 a barrel on June 18.

Tighter regulation after the BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may delay exploration projects and cut global output by as much as 900,000 barrels a day if a moratorium on deep- water drilling spreads beyond the U.S., Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said June 18.