By Mark Shenk March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil advanced as the dollar declined and after an industry report showed that U.S. inventories of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, dropped the most in two years. “The falling dollar and yesterday’s API report showing a large drop in distillate stocks have us back above $80,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “Now we are patiently waiting for today’s DOE report. Unless there are some real bearish numbers, we should move higher.” Crude oil for April delivery advanced 62 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $80.30 a barrel at 9:01 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The dollar traded at $1.3644 per euro, down 0.2 percent from $1.3615 yesterday. The common yesterday advanced after Greece approved an additional 4.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion) of deficit cuts. ‘We’re looking at support from the currency markets as the euro sees some short-term strength with the passing of the Greek budget,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity derivatives at BNP Paribas SA in London. “Data later may change that, with bearish expectations for crude and gasoline stocks.” Inventory Forecasts A Saudi Arabian-flagged product tanker was captured by pirates in the Gulf of Aden on March 1, the European Union Naval Force said. The tanker, with a crew of 14, was heading for the Red Sea port of Jeddah, according to Commander John Harbour, a spokesman for EU Navfor in Northwood, England. Shell’s Kokori oil flow station in Nigeria was attacked yesterday as militants renewed operations against the energy industry in the southern Delta region. The People’s Patriotic Revolutionary Force claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement, saying it had begun “fresh and final hostilities in the Niger Delta and beyond.” The group called on international oil companies to leave the region immediately. Brent crude oil for April delivery climbed 48 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $78.66 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. --Editors: Joe Link, Charlotte Porter To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net. Related Articles

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