Commodities : Wednesday, Sept. 25, 1985 : Petroleum Futures Rally

Petroleum futures prices rallied Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange following the release of statistics that showed another decline in already low heating oil supplies.

The weekly report from the American Petroleum Institute disclosed a drop of 6.2 million barrels of crude oil; 140,000 barrels of distillates, which include heating oil, and 1.5 million barrels of gasoline in the week ended last Friday.

The report boosted prices of petroleum futures across the board, said Jim Ritterbusch, a petroleum analyst with Paine Webber.

“We’re just not seeing a normal seasonal buildup of supplies for the winter heating season,” Ritterbusch said of the decline in distillates.

“It’s not being produced in the quantities it was last year, and imports have been lower than in recent years,” he said.

Buying in the crude oil pit also was spurred by a report of another attack by Iraq on the Iranian oil loading terminal at Kharg Island, analysts said.

Further, supplies of gasoline available for immediate delivery appear to be tight, they said.