June crude oil prices this morning are down -0.79 cents (-0.81%) and June gasoline is down 0.66 cents (-0.22%) on the European political uncertainty and the general sell-off in stocks and commodities. Crude oil is also lower ahead of today's weekly DOE report. Crude oil and gasoline prices on Tuesday closed mixed: CLM12 -0.93, RBM2 +0.0203. Crude oil prices were hurt by continued doubts about global growth, expectations for a new 21-1/2 year high in today's weekly DOE report, and the Saudi Oil Minister's comment that oil prices are "still a bit too high." Gasoline prices were boosted by the DOE's hike in its forecast for U.S. gasoline demand this year to 8.67 million bpd, although that would be down by 0.8% from 8.74 million bpd in 2011. The market consensus for Wednesday's weekly DOE report is that crude oil inventories will increase by another 1.9 million bbls to a new 21-1/2 year high, gasoline inventories will increase by +250,000 bbls, distillate inventori es will increase by +750,00 bbls, and the refinery utilization rate will rise by 0.5 point to 86.5%. The Seaway pipeline between the key oil hub at Cushing, Oklahoma and the Gulf coast is scheduled to be reversed late next week, which should lead to a gradual drawdown in crude oil inventories at Cushing.
