RTRS: US crude pares loss, briefly positive, on EIA data
NEW YORK Nov 17 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures prices pared losses and briefly turned positive in choppy trading on Wednesday after a government report said the nation's domestic crude oil stocks fell sharply, against an expectation of a slight rise.
RBOB gasoline futures moved up, lending support to the complex, as gasoline stocks also fell more than expected.
U.S. crude stocks fell 7.29 million barrels in the week to Nov. 12, [EIA/S] against a forecast for an increase of 100,000 barrels, and following an industry report on Tuesday that said stocks fell 7.7 million barrels.
Crude futures were under pressure ahead of the report because of concerns China may act to cool inflation and brake its economy and on the euro zone debt worries.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, December crude CLZ0 fell 20 cents, or 0.24 percent, to $82.14 a barrel at 10:41 a.m. EST (1541 GMT), trading from $81.18 to $82.67.
Prices were down about 48 cents when the EIA report was released. (Reporting by Robert Gibbons; Editing by Alden Bentley))
