Speaking of storms, crude oil closed at 65.96 today, after traders all but disregarded higher oil and gasoline inventory figures, opting instead to focus on the potential fall-out from a cyclone churning in the Arabian Sea. There are concerns the storm will interrupt shipping activities in the Straits of Hormuz, despite the insistence of Iranian oil officials that shipments will not be affected by the storm.

40% of the world’s oil supplies are shipped through the Straits of Hormuz.

More bad news — the government reported today that refinery production levels were down, but gasoline demand continued to rise for the week ending June 1.

Refinery utilization dropped to 89.6%, the lowest early June utilization in fifteen years and a surprise decline from the previous week’s 91.1%. In addition, demand for gasoline continued to rise. Demand in the past four weeks was up by 1.5% to 9.45 million barrels per day.