Crude oil fell after a U.S. Energy Department report showed that gasoline stockpiles increased for the first time in eight weeks. Gasoline inventories rose 537,000 barrels to 218.1 million last week, the Energy Department said. Stockpiles were forecast to decline by 400,000 barrels, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, climbed the most in two months. Crude oil stockpiles fell 2.01 million barrels to 363.1 million. “The builds in gasoline and distillate stocks are offsetting the larger-than-expected drop in crude oil,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. Crude oil for August delivery rose 39 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $76.33 a barrel at 11:53 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil traded at $76.45 a barrel before the release of the report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. Oil is down 8.9 percent for the quarter and 3.8 percent this year. Stockpiles of crude oil were forecast to drop 1 million barrels, according to the median of 15 analyst estimates before the Energy Department report. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net.

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