Thursday, June 29 2006 11:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: Oil prices were higher in Asian trade today on supply concerns after the last US stockpile figures were much weaker-than-expected, especially for gasoline (petrol), dealers said.

At 11:00 am (0830 IST) New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, was at 72.40 dollars a barrel, up 21 cents from 72.19 dollars in late US trade.

Brent North Sea crude for August delivery rose 17 cents to 71.58 dollars.

"Most people expected big draws in crude and most people also expected draws in gasoline but with a holiday weekend coming up in the US, there was a knee-jerk reaction (to the US figures)," said Tony Nunan, manager for energy risk management at Mitsubishi Corp's international petroleum business in Tokyo.

US reserves of gasoline fell one million barrels to 212.4 million, overturning analysts' consensus forecasts of a rise of 450,000 barrels.

Crude oil reserves were down 3.4 million barrels to 343.7 million over the week ended June 23, the Department of Energy (DoE) said yesterday in its weekly market update.

"The numbers were extremely bullish," said Societe Generale analyst Deborah White.

"The crude stock draw was pretty much triple expectations," he said.

Nunan said inventories are higher than average for both crude and gasoline but "the main thing is that demand is still holding up despite high gasoline prices."

Demand for gasoline rose 1.2 per cent from the previous week, to 9.54 million barrels per day, matching a record high set in August 2005.