Crude, Distillate Inventories Drop; Gasoline Increases

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rude oil and distillate fuel inventories fell last week but gasoline supplies rose, the Department of Energy said in its weekly inventory report issued Wednesday.

Crude oil supplies fell 6.6 million barrels, while distillates rose 1.1 million barrels and gasoline supplies rose 1.9 million barrels, DOE said. Crude supplies were forecast to drop by 2 million barrels, Bloomberg reported.

Analysts were split on which direction distillate stocks would move, though the median forecast was a 150,000 barrel decline, Bloomberg said.

Distillates — which include diesel and heating oil — will become more of a focus as colder weather sets in over the next few months, analysts told Bloomberg. Heating oil futures hit an all-time high on Sept. 1.

The gasoline supply increase could indicate that demand is falling with higher retail prices, Bloomberg said. Analysts had expected a drop of 2.2 million barrels.

Crude oil futures rose $1.98 to close at $65.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.

Oil futures had hit an all-time high of $70.85 on Aug. 30 following Hurricane Katrina's landfall into the Gulf Coast region.