MW: Oil trims losses after surprise supply decline
By Claudia Assis
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures pared losses Wednesday after a government report showed a surprise drop in inventories for the week ended Nov. 12. Crude for December delivery was off 34 cents to $82.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange; it traded at $81.83 a barrel shortly before the report. The Energy Information Administration said crude-oil inventories were down 7.3 million barrels. Gasoline inventories decreased 2.7 million barrels, and distillates stockpiles declined 1.1 million barrels. Analysts polled by Platts expected an increase of 1.2 million barrels for crude-oil stocks, a rise of 650,000 barrels for gasoline supplies, and a decline of 1.8 million barrels for distillates stockpiles.
