By Myra P. Saefong
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures pared gains Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a modest increase in crude supplies, along with a bigger-than-expected jump in gasoline inventories for the week ended Dec. 7. Crude supplies rose by 800,000 barrels. Analysts polled by Platts expected a 2.5 million-barrel decline. Motor gasoline supplies climbed by 5 million barrels, while distillate stocks added 3 million barrels, the EIA report said. Analysts had forecast a rise of 2.5 million barrels for gasoline inventories and a climb of 1.25 million barrels in distillate supplies. Following the latest data, January crude CLF3 +0.50% traded at $86.53 a barrel, up 74 cents, or 0.9%. It was trading around $86.87 ahead of the report. The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that crude supplies rose 4.3 million barrels last week.
