By Claudia Assis
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures pared some of their losses Wednesday after a government report showed a decrease in oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 13. Crude for September delivery declined $1.24, or 1.7%, to $74.55 a barrel, whereas it was barely keeping above $74 before the data. The Energy Information Administration said oil inventories declined by 800,000 barrels, shallower than the drop forecast by some analysts but received as good news after a trade group Tuesday reported a 5.9 million increase for the same week. The EIA also reported gasoline stockpiles "virtually unchanged" for the week and an increase by 1.1 million for inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel. Analysts polled by Platts had expected a decline of 2.25 million barrels for oil inventories, and a decline of 1.6 million barrels for gasoline. They had forecast stocks of distillates to drop by 1.4 million barrels.
