Oil futures declined on Wednesday, pulling back following a three-session climb, after the U.S. government reported a modest weekly fall in domestic crude supplies, but said gasoline inventories climbed by more than three million barrels.
On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude inventories fell by 400,000 barrels for the week ended July 15, ending a streak of two consecutive weeks of crude supply gains.
On average, analysts expected a decline of 200,000 barrels. The American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a 1.9-million-barrel increase.
The EIA report showed a supply increase of 3.5 million barrels for gasoline, while distillate stockpiles fell by 1.3 million barrels. The analyst survey called for inventory gains of 400,000 barrels for gasoline and 800,000 barrels for distillates.
The increase in gasoline supplies came as total gasoline product supplied, a proxy for demand, averaged 8.7 million barrels a day over the last four-week period, down 7.6% from the same time a year earlier, the EIA reported.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., Nymex delivery hub edged up by 1.2 million barrels for the week, while the EIA said stocks in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by five million barrels.
