MW: Oil futures pare gains after EIA inventory report
By Claudia Assis
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures pared some of their gains Thursday as a government report showed a larger-than-expected decline in crude inventories but increases in gasoline and distillates stockpiles. Crude oil for August delivery added $1.20, or 1.6%, to $75.27 a barrel. Prices earlier had hit an intraday high of $75.97 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration reported a decrease by 5 million barrels in the nation's crude oil inventories for the week ended July 2, whereas analysts surveyed by Platts had expected a decline around 3.5 million. The EIA said motor gasoline inventories increased by 1.3 million barrels last week, and distillate fuel inventories increased by 300,000 million barrels. The analysts surveyed by Platts had expected an increase of 1.3 million for gasoline stocks and an increase of 1.9 million for distillates stocks.
