Oil Prices Up on Weak Dollar Ahead of Inventory Report

As of 8:52 am EST, the price of crude had climbed by .54 percent to reach $76.43 a barrel and the price of heating oil had risen by .83 percent.

HEAT USA Price Report

Today’s average retail heating oil price per gallon: Down $0.03
Morning projection (for Friday’s average price per gallon): Down $0.03

A weak dollar gave oil prices a lift Wednesday morning, but those gains could be temporary. The EIA’s weekly inventory report will be issued at 10:30 am, and is predicted to show a substantial buildup of crude inventories. Rising crude inventories would strike another blow against economic optimism; oil’s decline yesterday was the result of a downward revision of US GDP growth in the third quarter and data showing low consumer confidence. Distillate inventories, which include heating oil and diesel, may decline but aren’t expected to amount to a significant drop in the still overwhelming supplies of distillates.

HEAT USA price experts report that if the EIA report shows an increase in inventories, as predicted, then those numbers would likely push oil prices downward. However, some of yesterday’s losses were due to expectations of rising inventories, which could limit the effect of the EIA report.