Falling Inventories Boost Gas Prices

Gasoline futures prices rose sharply Thursday on continued uncertainty in Iraq and reports of declining inventories. Crude prices advanced modestly.

Unleaded gasoline for delivery in October settled at 64.41 cents a gallon, up 1.45 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

“The overall matrix of the situation is that we have a very, very unsettled situation in the Middle East,” said Gerald Samuels, managing director of ARB Oil Inc.

Gasoline, however, moved up even more on a report from the American Petroleum Institute, released after the market closed Wednesday, that gasoline stocks last week fell 3.7 million barrels to 192.8 million. A report from the Department of Energy showed a 3.4 million barrel drop.

Hurricane Fran, bearing down on the southeastern United States, also helped push prices higher on concerns about possible disruption to supplies of oil and related products.

Light sweet crude oil for delivery in October settled at $23.44 per barrel, up 20 cents.