Wednesday, July 20 2005 10:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: World oil prices rebound on expectations that Government figures will show United States (US) crude inventories fell last week owing to hurricane damage, traders said.

New York's contract for light sweet crude for August delivery rose 14 cents to close at USD 57.46 a barrel. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September added 37 cents to end at USD 57.36 a barrel.

Fears for US oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico eased as Hurricane Emily weakened. The Miami Hurricane Center downgraded the storm to a category one hurricane from a previous category four.

Traders instead switched their attention to yesterday's (July 19, 2005) inventories data from the US Department of Energy, which are expected to reflect the impact on gulf production in the past week caused by Hurricane Dennis.

"Expectations are for a net draw (decrease) in crude," Wachovia Securities economist Jason Schenker said.

"But we saw some downward (price) movement stemming from the fact that Emily doesn't seem that much of an issue, and also expectations of a further distillate inventories build."

US inventories of distillate products such as diesel and heating oil are a closely watched component of the weekly DoE report.

Analysts expected yesterday's (July 19, 2005) snapshot to reflect production shutdowns in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Dennis.

On the upside for oil prices, the Miami weather forecasters did not rule out the possibility of Emily hitting Texas, a key US refinery region, and a hurricane warning for the area remained in effect.