[Skinny Shooter]

Here's an example of oil futures for Winter being decided now:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...kets_oil_dc_19

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices broke back above $60 a barrel on Wednesday, with a tropical storm in the oil-producing U.S. Gulf of Mexico compounding worries over refiners' ability to bolster pre-winter fuel supplies.

U.S. crude oil futures gained 60 cents to $60.19 a barrel and London Brent rose 52 cents to $58.81 a barrel.

"The hurricane threat has certainly raised people's fears of refiners struggling to produce enough products, particularly at a time when demand for gasoline is high," said Daniel Hynes, resource analyst at ANZ Institutional Banking.

Hedge fund investors are betting peak winter demand will stretch supplies, particularly of heating oil and other high-demand distillate fuels.

Tropical storm Cindy is posing a threat to oil infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, home to a quarter of U.S. oil and gas output. Tropical storm Dennis is also gathering strength in the Caribbean Sea.

The U.S. federal Minerals Management Service said 3 percent of daily Gulf oil and gas production had been shut as a precaution as energy companies evacuated some workers from platforms.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said it was the earliest date on record for four named tropical storms to have formed in the Atlantic basin, underscoring predictions that the 2005 hurricane season could be unusually active.

Robust demand helped bolster the average retail price for U.S. gasoline to within a few cents of the all-time high and diesel fuel also hit a new record, the U.S. government said this week.

Oil market sentiment may turn even more bullish if the preliminary forecast on weekly U.S. crude stocks is proved correct. Stocks are expected to have fallen by 1.2 million barrels, according to a Reuters survey.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration releases its report for the week to July 1 on Thursday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries last week suspended talk of increasing production by a further 500,000 bpd, a decision analysts said had limited impact in a market supported by refinery bottlenecks rather than a shortage of crude.

OPEC's president said last week the group could bring on the extra production if prices rose back to $60 a barrel.

Despite signs that U.S. demand is running strong, No. 2 oil consumer China has been showing signs of weaker-than-expected growth this year, data has shown.

Major Chinese refiners, who have been exporting unusually large volumes of gasoline and diesel this year, have cut back operating rates in July as soaring crude costs turn their margins negative for low, state-set domestic retail sales.