OREANDA-NEWS. August 18, 2010.  Crude for September delivery gained 53 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at USD 75.77/bbl on the NYMEX. Brent crude oil for October settlement advanced USD 1.30, or 1.7%, to end the session at USD 76.93/bbl on the London- based ICE Futures Europe Exchange yesterday.

Petroleum products strengthened Tuesday after the Federal Reserve said industrial production rose 1% in July. That figure overshot the 0.6% expected by the consensus figure, and was helped by a rise in auto production. Oil saw gains after an early batch of US economic reports showed producer prices rose 0.2% in July while housing starts rose less than forecast, by 1.7% to 546,000.

On the downside, oil declined marginally in Asian trading this morning after API reported crude supplies rose 5.87 mn bbl and gasoline inventories rose 2.03 mn bbl last week. We don’t put much stock in these industry data and think today’s Energy Department report today may show that crude stockpiles dropped by about 1.5 mn bbl, a drawdown of 1.5 mn bbl of gasoline stockpiles and a build of 1.4 mn bbl for distillates.

Moving forward, today’s mid-week petroleum report will show whether crude oil futures sink below USD 75 (if the figures are bearish) or hold above this mark (if the report is more bullish).