Crude rises on supply fears

BUDAPEST -- Oil prices rose yesterday as traders remained wary over possible supply woes because of refinery shutdowns and forecasters predicted a busy hurricane season that could hurt Gulf of Mexico output.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 52 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gasoline rose 3.14 cents to $1.8023 a gallon while heating oil rose marginally to $1.7078 a gallon.

Brent for September delivery on London's International Petroleum Exchange rose 47 cents to settle at $60.12 per barrel.

''Years of underinvestment in the refinery sector have led to a very tightly supplied market, which in return pushed prices to current levels," said Alex Scott, a senior research analyst at Seven Investment Management in London.

Prices had soared to a record intraday high of $62.50 Wednesday before retreating to settle at $60.86 after the US Department of Energy released its better-than-expected petroleum report, which showed an increase in oil inventories for the first time in a month.

The data showed domestic inventories of crude oil and diesel grew, but gasoline stocks fell sharply. It said there was an increase of 200,000 barrels in the US inventory of crude oil last week.

Oil markets have been roiled in recent days over the death of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia, weather patterns that could hurt Gulf of Mexico output down the line and Iran's nuclear ambitions.