Oil Prices Near $61

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Oil prices rose Wednesday despite an international energy watchdog’s forecast of slower-than-expected demand growth and a Department of Energy report that showed rising supplies of heating oil and diesel.


Light sweet crude for August delivery rose 18 cents to $60.80 a barrel in morning trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On London’s International Petroleum Exchange, August Brent fell 20 cents to $58.62 a barrel.


In its monthly forecast, IEA revised its global demand growth outlook down by 200,000 barrels a day to 1.58 million barrels a day in 2005, citing a weaker outlook for China and the U.S.


And in its weekly supply report, the Energy Department said crude oil inventories fell by 3.9 million barrels to 321 million barrels, or 6 percent above year-ago levels. Gasoline stocks declined by 2.7 million barrels to 212.6 million barrels, or 1 percent above last year. The biggest surprise, analysts said, was the 3.2 million increase in the supply of distillate fuel, putting inventories 4 percent above year-ago levels at 120.4 million barrels.


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