Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures rose close to a record in New York amid concern that U.S. inventories may decline for a ninth week because of the slow recovery of production in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ivan disrupted supplies.

U.S. stockpiles fell close to a 29-year low in the week ended Sept. 17 after Ivan hit the Gulf, which accounts for a quarter of U.S. output. Gulf of Mexico production ended last week 28 percent below normal levels, according to the Minerals Management Service, part of the U.S. Interior Department.

``Production is recovering far more slowly,'' Deborah White, a Paris-based commodities economist at Societe Generale, said in a report. ``The hurricane has passed but its bullish impact will linger. Ivan cost the oil complex time, and that time can never be made up.''

Crude oil for November delivery rose as much as 35 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $48.23 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $49.21 a barrel at 9:29 a.m. Singapore time.

November crude rose 42 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $48.88 a barrel when trading ended last week, the highest closing price since futures began trading in 1983. New York oil futures, which began trading in 1983, last reached a record intraday price of $49.40 on Aug. 20.

The November contract jumped 7.2 percent last week. Prices rose after a report showed U.S. crude-oil stockpiles fell for an eighth week, by 9.1 million barrels, to 269.5 million in the week ended Sept. 17. Inventories are 5.8 million barrels from being the lowest since September 1975.

``I don't think we're going to see a build this week'' in inventories, said Randy Simpson, vice-president of supply and trading at New West Petroleum Inc. in Sacramento, California. ``With production being down and high demand we're going to see another draw,'' he said.

Port Disruption

Prices also rose as high winds and seas from Hurricane Ivan returned to the Gulf, shutting the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the country's biggest import terminal, for a day and delaying efforts to re-activate some platforms.

U.S. crude oil supplies are at their lowest since the week ended Feb. 6. Supplies need to rise so that refiners can prepare stocks of heating oil during the fourth quarter, the biggest demand period in the U.S., New West's Simpson said.

``If we don't get some reasonable builds soon we're going to be through $50 in the blink of an eye,'' he said. ``We're at the end of September now. If the east coast starts getting cold early, forget about it.'' The U.S. northeast accounts for about 80 percent of U.S. heating oil consumption.

Heating oil for October delivery rose 0.66 cent, or 0.5 percent, to $1.3645 a gallon in after-hours trading. It closed at $1.3579 a gallon last week, the highest close for the front-month contract, since trading started on Nymex in 1978.

Price Outlook

Crude oil may reach $50 a barrel as early as this week, according to a Bloomberg News survey of traders and analysts on Sept. 23. Twenty-four of 41 respondents, or 59 percent, predicted an increase in futures. Fourteen forecast a decline and three said prices would be little changed.

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators increased their net-long position in New York crude-oil futures for the first time in five weeks, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Net-long positions doubled to 13,544 contracts in the week ended Sept. 21, the Washington-based commission said last week.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sri Jegarajah in Singapore at sjegarajah@bloomberg.net. Gavin Evans in Wellington, New Zealand at gavinevans@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 26, 2004 21:31 EDT