>The Associated Press
Oil prices continued to climb Thursday after jumping in the previous session on unexpected declines in U.S. refinery utilization rates and crude and gasoline inventories.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 36 cents to US$73.87 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midday in Europe. The contract rose US$1.78 to settle at US$73.51 a barrel Wednesday.
The crude and gasoline inventory declines in the U.S. suggest the refining industry is easing back from what had been a scramble to produce more gasoline to supply the peak summer driving season, which ends this weekend.
The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that refinery utilization rates fell 1.3 percentage points to 90.3 percent of capacity in the week ended Aug. 24. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had expected no change.
The decline in activity helped cut gasoline inventories by 3.6 million barrels.
Analysts had predicted a 1.8 million barrel decline.
The graph below shows petroleum supply at an all time record low (20 days).
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