Оil advanced for a second day

West Texas Intermediate oil advanced for a second day as U.S. durable goods orders gained more than forecast in May and on expectations that crude stockpiles fell last week.

Prices increased as much as 1 percent as bookings for goods meant to last at least three years climbed 3.6 percent, the Commerce Department said in Washington. Crude inventories probably shrank by 1.5 million barrels, a survey showed before a government report tomorrow. World oil demand will rise in the second half of this year as economic growth continues to recover, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said today.

Crude supplies probably dropped 1.75 million barrels to 392.4 million in the week ended June 21 as refiners boosted gasoline production to meet rising demand, the survey showed.

Refineries probably operated at 89.6 percent of capacity as of June 21, up 0.3 percentage point from the prior week. That would be the highest level since Dec. 28.

The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly petroleum report at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Demand for gasoline rose 2.2 percent in the week ended June 14 to 8.84 million barrels a day, the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm, said last week. Total petroleum consumption increased 2.8 percent to 18.4 million.

WTI for August delivery climbed 53 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $95.71 a barrel at 11:37 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 74 percent higher than the 100-day average. Prices have slipped 1.6 percent this quarter, curbing their gains in 2013 to 4.2 percent.

Brent for August settlement increased 67 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $101.83 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 17 percent below the 100-day average. Brent’s premium to WTI widened to as much as $6.35 a barrel from yesterday’s $5.98, the least since January 2011.