NEW YORK/LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) – Brent crude oil futures
fell below $104 per barrel on Tuesday in New York, as investors
worried that the U.S. Federal Reserve might scale back its bond
buying program, which could push the dollar higher and hinder
energy demand.

U.S. crude futures were trading more than 1 percent lower as
investors watched gasoline prices, which were retreating after a
sharp three-session rise last week.

NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) – Enbridge Energy Partners
, which had threatened to close an oil rail loading
terminal in North Dakota unless the content of potentially
deadly sulfide gas in Bakken crude shipments was reduced, now
says it will accept shipments of the crude if it is notified in
advance.

In a government filing late on Friday, Enbridge said it
will accept the crude shipments with advance notice, if it can
safely accommodate the oil.

NEW YORK, LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) – Crude oil prices rose
on Monday, reversing early losses to trade higher by late
morning in New York as the dollar weakened, but ample supplies
of crude oil were expected to limit gains.

“The dollar’s move has been pretty strong lately, maybe
you’re seeing a little more profit taking,” said Gene McGillian,
an analyst with Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

May 19 (Reuters) – The price of a gallon of gasoline in the
United States rose sharply in the last two weeks amid outages at
Midwest and West Coast refineries, according to a widely
followed survey released on Sunday.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline rose 11.19 cents
to $3.6566 per gallon on May 17, according to the Lundberg
Survey of about 2,500 gas stations across the United States.

NEW YORK May 16 (Reuters) – Brent June crude oil futures
expired slightly higher on Thursday, buoyed by a weaker dollar
even as a bevy of slack U.S. economic data capped gains in the
stock market.

“If we have to pick a driver for today, it’s that the
dollar’s under pressure,” said Gene McGillian, analyst at
Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) – Enbridge Energy Partners
said it may be forced to shut down an 80,000
barrel-per-day (bpd) oil-loading rail terminal in North Dakota
unless the amount of potentially deadly hydrogen sulfide in
crude oil delivered to the facility can be reduced.

Last week, Enbridge asked for a ruling in one day from the
U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to restrict the
amount of hydrogen sulfide in the delivered crude. That request
came after a very large concentration of the gas was discovered
in a tank at Berthold, North Dakota, on May 5.

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) – Crude oil prices fell on both
sides of the Atlantic on Monday, hit by slowing oil demand in
China and data showing the biggest drop for U.S. retail gasoline
sales in more than four years.

Refinery crude throughput in China, the world’s
second-largest consumer, fell 3 percent in April from March, its
lowest daily rate since last September, as refineries entered
maintenance season. Implied oil demand was up 3.2 percent in
April from a year earlier to about 9.6 million barrels per day,
the lowest in eight months.

NEW YORK/LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) – Crude futures on both
sides of the Atlantic lost ground on Friday as rising fuel
supplies and a stronger dollar put oil under pressure.

The dollar hit a 4-1/2 year high against the yen, making
commodities more expensive for holders of different currencies.

NEW YORK May 8 (Reuters) – The spread between Brent and U.S.
crude oil futures narrowed sharply in the last half hour of
trade on Wednesday fueled by expectations for increased capacity
to funnel rising U.S. crude oil production out of
benchmark-supply-point Cushing.

The spread between U.S. crude oil and Brent settled at
$7.72, the lowest settlement since late January 2011.

NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) – A New York state court on
Thursday ruled that two towns should be able to choose whether
or not they can ban a controversial oil and gas drilling
technique known as “fracking.”

In a decision that could set precedent in the state and
create a major setback to oil and gas drilling firms, the New
York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, upheld zoning laws
that allowed the towns of Dryden and Middlefield to ban oil and
gas exploration and production.