Crude oil futures advanced after a U.S. government report showed a bigger-than-expected decline in inventories. Supplies fell 3.12 million barrels to 355.5 million in the week ended July 8, the Energy Department said today in a weekly report. Inventories were forecast to decrease by 1.5 million barrels, according to the median of 15 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Crude oil for August delivery rose 59 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $98.02 a barrel at 10:31 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil traded at $97.12 a barrel before the release of the report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. Futures also rose after a report showed China’s economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the second quarter and the International Energy Agency forecast rising consumption. China’s gross domestic product and industrial output grew 9.5 percent from a year earlier, higher than the median estimate of 9.3 percent in a Bloomberg News survey. Growth was 9.7 percent in the first three months of the year. Industrial output climbed last month the most since May 2010. Global oil demand growth is set to accelerate in 2012, the IEA said, potentially adding pressure on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to boost production. Crude consumption next year will average 91 million barrels a day, an increase of 1.5 million barrels, or 1.6 percent, from 2011, the IEA said in its monthly oil market report. That compares with the OPEC’s forecast that world oil demand will grow at a slower pace for a second year in 2012 as consumption declines in Europe and slows in other industrialized nations. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.

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