Heating Oil Prices Flat After Inventory Data and IEA Demand Forecast, Crude Oil Up Along With Stock Markets

At 11:51 am EDT the price of crude had gained 1.8 percent to reach $70.68 a barrel and the price of heating oil had fallen by 0.1 percent.

HEAT USA Price Report

Today’s average retail heating oil price per gallon: DOWN $0.01
Morning projection (for Thursday’s average price): NO CHANGE

Oil prices hovered near Tuesday’s closing positions this morning, as inventory drawdowns reported yesterday by the API and the IEA’s downward revision of its 2010 demand forecast counterbalanced each other.  The American Petroleum institute reported a 1.4-million-barrel decrease in crude inventories and a 2.3-million-barrel decrease in gasoline inventories, both of which were larger drawdowns than expected.  This morning, the International Energy Agency announced that global crude demand would recover more slowly than previously predicted, returning to daily demand levels in 2010 that are only about half of 2008 levels.  Later in the morning, crude prices posted moderate gains spurred by gains on US stock markets.

HEAT USA price experts reported a small decrease in retail prices this morning, and expect heating oil prices to remain steady throughout the trading day, which will lead to static retail prices tomorrow.