OIL prices rose yesterday as the dollar continued to weaken and stocks tried to hold their ground after Tuesday's big rally. Benchmark crude added 41 cents to settle at US$83.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gasoline pump prices climbed as well, to a national average of US$2.751 for a gallon of regular, according to AAA, Wright Express and oil Price Information Service. That's up almost two cents from Tuesday and 29 cents higher than a year ago.

Gas has been following oil higher over the past week as stock markets rallied and the dollar fell. Crude traders often look to stock markets as a measure of overall investorsentiment, while oil, priced in dollars, gets cheaper for investors with foreign currencies when the dollar drops. The dollar continued its decline against the euro on Wednesday. The connection between the two currencies has been one of the closest indicators of the direction of oil prices recently.

Stock markets tried to hold on to Tuesday's sizable gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished about 23 points higher. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were down a little.

The Energy Information Administration said that crude inventories increased last week by 3.1 million barrels, or 0.9 percent, to 360.9 million barrels. That is 7 percent above year-ago levels. Analysts expected a drop of 1.3 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Platts senior oil analyst Linda Rafield said the rise in crude supplies was the result of a slowdown in refinery operations, which allowed inventories to build. The EIA report said refineries operated at 83.1 percent of capacity, down 2.7 percent from the previous week.

Although the increase in crude supplies did not seem to faze traders, energy consultants Cameron Hanover noted that the "DOE report and then Friday morning's monthlyunemployment numbers could really make or break the course of this market. We seem to have a bull market, although crude still needs to break and settle (preferably twice) above US$83.00."

Most analysts expect the jobless data to show the US economy is not creating a significantamount of jobs. "Based on the fundamental data, the market is still amply supplied with crude oil," Commerzbank said in a report, adding that a "majority of OPEC members prefer a price range from US$70 to US$80."

More tropical storms are brewing in the Caribbean, although current forecasts do not put them on a course to disrupt oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. Natural gas rose 12.2 cents to settle at US$3.865 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In other Nymex trading in November contracts, heating oil gained 0.52 cent to settle at US$2.3078 a gallon and gasoline added 3.04 cents to settle at US$2.1559 a gallon.

In London, Brent crude rose 22 cents to settle at US$85.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• barrel [´bærəl] n.(琵琶)桶；圆筒 (初中英语单词)
• measure [´meʒə] n.量度；范围 vt.测量 (初中英语单词)
• sentiment [´sentimənt] n.情绪；多愁善感 (初中英语单词)
• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
• connection [kə´nekʃən] n.联系；关系；联运 (初中英语单词)
• industrial [in´dʌstriəl] a.工业的，产业的 (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)
• capacity [kə´pæsiti] n.容量；智能；能力 (初中英语单词)
• previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
• fundamental [,fʌndə´mentl] a.基本的 n.原理 (初中英语单词)
• mexico [´meksikəu] n.墨西哥 (初中英语单词)
• weaken [´wi:kən] v.(使)弱化；衰弱；稀薄 (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)
• senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
• monthly [´mʌnθli] a.每月(的) n.月刊 (高中英语单词)
• unemployment [,ʌnim´plɔimənt] n.失业；失业人数 (高中英语单词)
• significant [sig´nifikənt] a.重要的；意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
• tropical [´trɔpikəl] a.热带地区的 (高中英语单词)
• investor [in´vestə] n.投资者 (英语六级单词)
• hanover [´hænəvə] n.汉诺威 (英语六级单词)