Reply #2: Crude Oil Prices Slip Below $62 a Barrel [View All]

[ozymandius]

SINGAPORE - Crude futures fell Thursday on news that U.S. gasoline stocks rose last week and as forecasts predicted Hurricane Wilma will likely avoid key U.S. oil facilities along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery slipped 41 cents to $62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Asian electronic trading. The contract, which expires Thursday, closed at $62.41 on Wednesday, down 79 cents.

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Wilma, which weakened slightly to a still-powerful Category 4 hurricane, was centered in the northwestern Caribbean Sea. The Miami-based
National Hurricane Center warned it could re-intensify into a Category 5 storm Thursday, move into the Gulf of Mexico and then swerve east, toward Florida.

But some analysts said it was risky to assume the storm wouldn't disrupt the ongoing recovery of oil and gas operations in and around Texas and Louisiana, and recalled that some traders had discounted the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita too early.

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