NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures pared some of their strong gains, but remained higher on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported that crude supplies decreased by 3.7 million barrels last week. Analysts expected a decline of 2.2 million barrels in crude stockpiles, according to a Platts survey. Crude for August delivery was last up $1.07 at $70.98 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract was trading near $71.75 a barrel before the data. The EIA also reported an increase of 2.3 million barrels in gasoline inventories and a build of 2.9 million barrels in distillate supplies. Analysts projected increases of 2.1 million barrels for gasoline and 1.4 million barrels for distillates, according to the Platts survey.
