LONDON, June 14: World oil prices showed mixed fortunes on Wednesday after the latest weekly snapshot of US energy inventories. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, edged up four cents to $68.60 per barrel in pit trading.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for July delivery fell 28 cents to $66.64 per barrel in electronic deals.

According to the Department of Energy, US reserves of gasoline, or petrol, rose in the past week but crude oil stocks fell.

The DoE's weekly inventories report showed crude oil reserves fell by 900,000 barrels to 345.7 million barrels in the week to June 9.

Analysts had expected a smaller fall in crude stocks of 700,000 barrels, but the DoE said they still remained “well above the upper end of the average range for this time of year”.

Reserves of gasoline, which are under scrutiny as US drivers take to the roads en masse for summer holidays, rose by 2.8 million barrels last week to 213.1 million. That was double the forecast rise.

US inventories of distillate fuels such as diesel and heating oil rose by 2.1 million barrels to 122.8 million.

The DoE also reported that US refineries operated at 92.7pc capacity in the past week, up from 91pc in the prior week.

World oil prices had slumped by about $2 on Tuesday on expectations that global central banks will get tough on inflation by raising interest rates, which would curb economic growth and hence demand for crude.

Prices were hit also by signs that the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Alberto, will miss US rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, dealers said.

Elsewhere, Iran's controversial nuclear programme is still of concern as long as Tehran and the West fail to reach agreement over the matter.

“There remains the risk of a sharp spike in prices as a result of ongoing tensions in Iran, Iraq and Nigeria and from the prospect of another active Atlantic hurricane,” Sucden analysts noted.—AFP