Commodities : Oil Futures Rise Strongly

Energy futures prices rose strongly Wednesday in what analyst said apparently was a short-lived burst of vigor in an otherwise skittish market.

The advances, which sent gasoline and heating oil prices up the limit allowed for daily trading, came in spite of industry data that showed yet another buildup in petroleum stocks.

It was the fifth consecutive week of growing gasoline reserves reported by the American Petroleum Institute. The latest weekly figures showed gasoline reserves growing by 1.6% to 222.7 million barrels.

Ed Dellamonte, an analyst in New York with Prudential-Bache Securities, said that although the figures were bearish, the market already had anticipated the larger stocks.

Analyst Peter Beutel of Rudolf Wolff Energy said that the market fundamentals did not appear to have changed and that buying by traders who had an excess of sales over purchases had helped bolster prices.

“The fundamentals point toward lower prices again,” he said, adding that technical market factors could be strong enough to keep prices up for a while.