WTI oil price trading higher on US dollar & supply data

WTI oil prices are trading higher over the $75 mark as the US dollar lost some recent strength and also on forecasts that a government report will show that US supplies fell for a third week.

WTI Light crude oil futures for July delivery rose to $75.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and overtook Brent oil futures prices.

“The bulls are trying to move oil higher, and they’ve been getting intermittent support from the euro and dollar,” said Peter Beutel, president of energy adviser Cameron Hanover Inc.

Analysts were split over whether the Energy Department will report that gasoline inventories rose or fell last week, according to the median of 11 responses in the Bloomberg News survey. The department is scheduled to release its weekly report tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. in Washington.

“If the dollar is falling, it means that people are more relaxed to take on risk. People have believed for a long time that the second half of 2010 will be better than the first half,” said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Mitsubishi Corp.

Oil consumption in the US is slowly recovering, helped by the seasonal summer peak in gasoline use. US crude inventories fell more than expected in the last week of June, trimming a surplus that has prevailed for almost two years.

Tags:  data, dollar, oil, oil prices, prices, supply, trading, US, WTI