BLBG: Oil Rises After Report Shows Unexpected Drop in Gasoline Supply
Crude oil futures rose after a U.S. government report showed an unexpected drop in gasoline inventories.
Supplies of the motor fuel fell 2.66 million barrels to 217.6 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 6, the Energy Department said today in a weekly report. Inventories were forecast to climb by 500,000 barrels, according to the median of analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
Crude oil for March delivery rose 18 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $37.73 a barrel at 10:48 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil traded at $37.86 a barrel before the release of the report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington.
