Oil down on gasoline buildup fear; Greek debt worry

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Reuters NEW YORK
Last Updated : Jun 22 2015 | 11:28 PM IST

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By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude oil futures fell for a second straight session on Monday on concerns that U.S. demand for gasoline may fade after a strong stretch and on worries about the potential fallout from the Greek debt crisis.

The slide came despite data from market intelligence firm Genscape suggesting a big draw on the week on stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude futures.

Gasoline fell almost 2 percent, retreating from last week's near 8-month high and leading the oil complex lower. Diesel's proxy, heating oil, fell more than half percent.

"One of the biggest supporters of the U.S. crude rally has been the products markets. But there's concern we may have overproduced gasoline lately, just like how we've been doing with crude," said Matthew Perry at Kronenberg Capital Advisors, an energy-focused hedge fund in Oreland, Pennsylvania.

On the Greek front, euro zone finance ministers welcomed new Athens proposals for a cash-for-reform deal but said it would take more work to avert a default.

Brent crude futures were down 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $62.82 a barrel by 1:37 p.m. EDT (1737 GMT).

U.S. crude futures fell 30 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $59.31 a barrel, ahead of the expiry of the front-month July contract.

U.S. gasoline stocks unexpectedly rose by nearly half a million barrels last week. Domestic U.S. oil output has, meanwhile, remained at around 1970 highs of about 9.6 million barrels a day, weighing on crude prices.

These have offset other positive data such as the crude draw of almost 2 million barrels at Cushing reported on the week by Genscape, market sources said.

U.S. oil producers added a rig each in the key Permian and Bakken shale basins last week, even as the total number of rigs fell. This fuels worry that the recovery in crude prices in recent months was coaxing drillers to expand activity.

U.S. oil output could decline later this year but will likely pick up in 2016 by 150,000 barrels per day at the current rig count, Goldman Sachs said in a note.

A supply overhang in the Atlantic basin was also pressuring the market, analysts said.

Morgan Stanley said around 10 million barrels of unsold crude, mainly from Nigeria, were floating as offshore storage despite relatively strong summer demand in the northern hemisphere.

(Additional reporting by Ron Bousso in London and Keith Wallis in Singapore; Editing by Jane Merriman and Chris Reese)

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First Published: Jun 22 2015 | 11:18 PM IST

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