Gas Futures Prices Increase

Gasoline futures prices surged higher Wednesday on what some specialists said was a sizable reduction in the nation’s stocks combined with continued high demand.

Crude and heating oil also advanced on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The leaded gasoline contract for delivery in May was 3.24 cents a gallon higher than the previous close and 8 cents above the price of a week ago.

Some analysts pinned Wednesday’s runup on a 4.5 million barrel drawdown in gasoline stocks reported late Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute.

“The stocks are 6.1 million barrels below what they were last year,” said Richard Marose, an analyst in Chicago with Geldermann Inc. “And we’re estimating demand will be up 8 to 11 percent.” The crude oil run and refinery utilization for the week ended last Friday were higher, however, and would have been expected to pressure futures prices.

“But the trade is starting to ignore that,” Marose said, “although farther down the road” the market is going to be affected by the greater amounts of product coming out of the refineries.