Commodities : Wednesday, Oct. 2, 1985 : Petroleum Prices Climb

Petroleum futures continued to climb Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the market remained concerned about a possible shortage of heating oil in the Northeast.

A key factor supporting prices was the weekly report on petroleum inventories released Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute (API), said Peter Beutel, a petroleum analyst with Rudolf Wolff Energy.

Beutel noted that domestic inventories of distillates, which include heating oil, are lagging 25 million barrels below the level of a year ago and 37 million barrels under the average of the last five years.

The API said inventories of distillates as of Sept. 27 were at 117 million barrels. And the industry agency said oil refiners are operating at only 79.1% of capacity.

Difficulties in shipping crude oil have been a factor supporting oil prices in recent weeks.

Beutel added that the reluctance of many members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to raise production quotas for some members during its meeting this week also discouraged sellers.