After being down for most of the day, crude oil prices rose at the close of the session on news of supply disruptions due to bad weather in Iraq and Kuwait and on new problems in Nigeria, where white-collar oil industry workers have threatened to strike against Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and a militant group said it would not participate in a peace summit next month.
The Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil stockpiles in the US were down 1.2 million barrels to 301 million barrels last week, less of a decline than was expected, while gasoline stockpiles also dropped 1.2 million barrels against an expected rise, while distillates added 2.6 million barrels to storage, more of a gain that had been anticipated.
Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush asked Congress to permit more domestic drilling for oil to lessen dependence on foreign oil and bring down prices, but Democrats in Congress rejected the call.
Near the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude had added $2.68 to $136.69 per barrel while Brent crude had gained $1.91 to $135.63 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe in London.
Nymex July gasoline was up 2 cents to $2.44 per gallon while August heating oil was down 5 cents to $3.80 per gallon and August natural gas also gained 2 cents to $13.06 per million British thermal units.
Most metals prices were higher Wednesday.
August gold was up $6.20 to $893.10 per troy ounce in New York while July silver was 26 cents higher to $17.33 per troy ounce and July platinum gained $27.60 to $2,091.90 per troy ounce.
Base metals prices were higher as well, with the exception of nickel, which fell to $23,150 per tonne in London.
Copper added 9 cents to $3.74 per pound in New York while three-month copper was up $155 to $8,243 per tonne in London on cuts in production in Peru due to protests there.
Lead jumped $20 to $1,885 per tonne while zinc gained $100 to $1,970 per tonne, aluminium added $55.50 to $3,092 per tonne and tin gained $525 to $22,550 per tonne.
Grains prices were mixed in afternoon trade.
December wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 6 cents to $9.45 per bushel and CBOT December corn gained 4 cents to $7.80 per bushel, but November soybeans dropped 10 cents to $15.43 per bushel.
