Petroleum Futures Advance

Petroleum futures were higher Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as they rebounded from weakness on Monday.

Analysts said much of the buying came from traders who had sold contracts during the decline Monday and were taking profits ahead of the long Fourth of July weekend. The exchange will be closed Thursday and Friday.

Concern that weekly oil statistics released later by the American Petroleum Institute would show a sharp decline in crude oil prices also contributed to the buying sentiment, said Nauman Barakat, a petroleum analyst in New York with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.

Prices had declined Monday on fears that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would be unable to keep its benchmark price and its production quotas intact when it begins a meeting of oil ministers Friday in Vienna.

But reports that preliminary meetings of selected oil ministers could resolve problems before the entire cartel meets stimulated some buying in the futures market Tuesday, Barakat said.