The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported that U.S. commercial crude inventories fell by 6.1 million barrels for the week ended Aug. 18. On average, analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights expected the report to show a decrease of 4.24 million barrels. The EIA report revealed supply climbs of 1.5 million barrels for gasoline and 900,000 barrels for distillates for the week. Analysts had forecast a weekly inventory decline of 1.15 million barrels for gasoline, while distillate stockpiles were expected to be mostly unchanged. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., Nymex delivery hub declined by 3.1 million barrels for the week, the EIA said. Oil futures pared some losses, with October West Texas Intermediate crude
CLV23,
down $1.02, or 1.3%, at $78.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at $78.27 before the supply data.
