.

KERN RIVER CRUDE 
Chevron $15.25 +.50 (Price last changed (2-13)
Equiva $15.25 +.50 (Price last changed (2-13)
Union $15.25 +.50 (Price last changed (2-13)

HEATING OIL
42,000 gal, cents per gal
Mar 55.40 56.15 55.10 55.62 +.22

UNLEADED GASOLINE
42,000 gal, cents per gal
Mar 60.80 61.70 59.80 60.26 --.64

NATURAL GAS
10,000 mm btu's, $ per mm btu
Mar 2.250 2.275 2.180 2.186 -- 59

Crude Oil Rises on Expectations of a Drop in U.S. Inventories

New York, Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- 
Crude oil rose for the third time this week on speculation that inventories will decline in the weeks ahead as supplies are taken from the market to meet a government plan to fill U.S. emergency reserves.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group has chartered three tankers to carry crude oil from the North Sea to the U.S. Gulf Coast, and that oil may be delivered to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, traders said. Such stockpiling would come as OPEC and other producers have said they were reducing daily world supply by about 2.5 percent.

"The general perception is that you are seeing some tightening here," said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York, which markets wholesale gasoline and heating oil. The tanker shipments mean that "4 million barrels are disappearing off the market."

Crude oil for March delivery rose 5 cents to $21.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were down 28 percent from this time last year.

In London, Brent crude oil for April settlement fell 10 cents to $20.82 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.

The U.S. Department of Energy said in November it would add 108 million barrels to the reserve over several years. The amount is equal to about 5 1/2 days of U.S. demand. Concern over the nation's reliance on oil imports has escalated since the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Prices rallied on Monday after the government said Equiva Trading Co., which provides trading services for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, will supply 18.6 million barrels of crude oil to the reserve beginning in May.

Russian Production

OAO Lukoil, Russia's top oil producer, urged its peers to cut production to ease a glut on the local market, and to work with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to set export policies. Russia is the second-largest oil exporter after Saudi
 Arabia.

OPEC reduced its daily output quotas by 1.5 million barrels starting on Jan. 1, after reaching and agreement with Russia, Norway, Mexico, Angola and Oman to cut supplies.

Russian oil companies will meet Feb. 20 to discuss whether to extend into the second quarter their promise to cut exports by 150,000 barrels a day from October levels, Lukoil Chief Executive Vagit Alekperov said.

Gasoline prices fell on speculation that supplies, already at a seven-month high, would keep rising as refineries switch over from emphasizing heating oil production, analysts said.

Inventories rose a greater-than-expected 1.66 million barrels to 217.6 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday. Supplies were 2.4 percent lower than last year's peak, which was reached in June.

"We are reacting to the accumulating gasoline supplies," said Tim Evans, senior energy analyst at IFR Pegasus in New York. "We are getting close to last year's high, which sets up for a big glut this summer."

Gasoline for March delivery fell 0.64 cent, or 1.1 percent, to 60.26 cents a gallon on the New York exchange. Prices were down 32 percent from a year earlier. 

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