Thursday, July 21 2005 16:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: Oil prices fell in Asian trade today (July 21, 2005) after data showed the impact on US oil inventories of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico was not as severe as expected, dealers said.

At 11:45 am (0915 IST), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, was at 57.68 dollars a barrel, down 34 cents from its close of 58.02 dollars in the United States overnight.

The July contract expired yesterday (July 20, 2005) at 56.72 dollars a barrel.

Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo, said news of the smaller-than-expected decline in US crude oil inventories released in the United States yesterday caused prices to pull back.

This showed that the impact of Hurricane Dennis on production platforms and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico was less severe than anticipated, he said.

"People's expectations were far away from the reality. When their fears did not happen they had to sell off the market," Emori said.

"I'm not too much bullish now because we don't have reasons to buy. We have enough inventories in the United States and we have enough crude oil supply from the OPEC countries. Demand in the United States for gasoline is still strong but we can probably cover the demand," he added.

The Department of Energy (DoE) said US crude oil stocks fell 900,000 barrels to 320.1 million barrels for the week ending July 15.