Oil, gasoline higher heading into the weekend

[June 19, 2010]  PARIS (AP) -- Oil and gasoline prices both edged up Friday, extending gains for the week as the driving season picked up speed and more motorists hit the road.

Pump prices rose 1.2 cents to a national average of $2.719 a gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Prices have risen 1.5 cents in the past week but are still 13.3 cents less than a month ago. A year ago, the average price was $2.685 per gallon.

Analysts expect prices to rise heading into the Fourth of July weekend and then fall after that because of plentiful supplies and ongoing tepid demand.

The American Petroleum Institute said Friday that gasoline deliveries fell 0.4 percent in May to 9.05 million barrels per day, the lowest May level in seven years. That compared with year-over-year increases in March and April.

API Chief Economist John Felmy said the decline shows that demand is more sensitive to higher prices and the pace of the economic recovery than other oil products, like diesel, heating oil and jet fuel.

Stock markets had little effect on oil prices Friday, with subdued trading on a "quadruple witching" day -- the simultaneous expiration of four kinds of options and futures contracts.

Investors seemed more cautious as the weekend neared as well, a pattern that's developed in recent weeks, according to PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn.

On Monday, investors and traders are more willing to take risks because there are four trading days ahead, he said.

"Towards the end of the week, you know, it doesn't look like such a good bet, especially going over the weekend," he said. "We're feeling a little bit better, but are we feeling strong enough to take total risk off the table? Probably not."

Prices for oil and other energy commodities also were affected by the dollar, which gained against the euro. Since commodities are traded in dollars, a stronger dollar makes them less appealing to foreign investors.

Benchmark crude was up for the week, rising 39 cents to settle at $77.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil settled Monday at $75.12 a barrel.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 1.85 cents to settle at $2.1289 a gallon. Gasoline lost 1.64 cents to settle at $2.1476 a gallon, and natural gas dropped 16.5 cents to settle at $4.997 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Brent crude was down 46 cents to settle at $78.22 on the ICE futures exchange.

[Associated Press; By SANDY SHORE]

Associated Press writers Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur and Carlo Piovano in London contributed to this report.

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