OIL prices settled lower yesterday as the government said U.S. crude supplies shrank less than analysts expected and stock markets showed only modest gains after Tuesday's rally.

Benchmark crude lost 35 cents to settle at US$75.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped as low as US$73.83 before recovering most of its losses.

In its weekly report the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said crude supplies fell last week by 800,000 barrels, considerably less than the drop of 2.25 million barrels that analysts forecast in a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Gasoline stocks were virtuallyunchanged and supplies of distillate fuels - like diesel and heating oil - rose by 1.1 million barrels, about as much as expected.

U.S. refineries ran at a surprising 90 percent of total capacity, a rise of 1.9 percentage points from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to slip to 87 percent.

"Refiners have a difficult situation," energy consultants Cameron Hanover said. "They do not want to give up hard-won long-term contracts with suppliers, knowing that a time will come when they will want those contracts. But, they are not keen to build either crude oil stocks or refined products stocks from existing levels. The problem is, though, that demand is not strong enough to avoid one or the other."

Many analysts have been warning that the current oversupply of crude combined with weak demand make it hard to justify oil prices above US$70 per barrel.

"Continued investor interest is the only factorworking against a sharper fall in prices at present," said a report from Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Stock prices rose slightly in light trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 20 points shortly before the close. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 were up a little as well. Oil traders keep an eye on stock prices as a broad indicator of which way the economy may be heading.

In other Nymex trading in September contracts, heating oil fell 0.1 cent to settle at US$2.0249 a gallon, while gasoline added 0.8 cent to settle at US$1.9612. Natural gas lost 2.8 cents to settle at US$4.239 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude fell 46 cents to settle at US$76.47 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• modest [´mɔdist] a.谦虚的；朴素的 (初中英语单词)
• barrel [´bærəl] n.(琵琶)桶；圆筒 (初中英语单词)
• weekly [´wi:kli] a.&ad.每周一次(的) (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• administration [əd,minis´treiʃən] n.管理(事务等)；经营 (初中英语单词)
• survey [´sə:vei] vt.&n.俯瞰；审视；测量 (初中英语单词)
• surprising [sə´praiziŋ] a.惊人的；意外的 (初中英语单词)
• capacity [kə´pæsiti] n.容量；智能；能力 (初中英语单词)
• percentage [pə´sentidʒ] n.百分数；比例；部分 (初中英语单词)
• knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
• factor [´fæktə] n.因素；原动力；要素 (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
• slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)
• industrial [in´dʌstriəl] a.工业的，产业的 (初中英语单词)
• shortly [´ʃɔ:tli] ad.立刻，马上；不久 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• considerably [kən´sidərəbli] ad.显著地；十分 (高中英语单词)
• gasoline [´gæsəli:n] n.汽油 (高中英语单词)
• gallon [´gælən] n.加伦 (高中英语单词)
• virtually [´və:tʃuəli] ad.实际上，实质上 (英语四级单词)
• refined [ri´faind] a.精制的；文雅的 (英语四级单词)
• warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
• shrank [ʃræŋk] shrink的过去式 (英语六级单词)
• forecast [´fɔ:kɑ:st] vt.&n.预测；预报 (英语六级单词)
• unchanged [ʌn´tʃeindʒd] a.不变的；依然如故的 (英语六级单词)
• hanover [´hænəvə] n.汉诺威 (英语六级单词)
• investor [in´vestə] n.投资者 (英语六级单词)