Crude Oil Prices Fall Despite a Drop in Inventories

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rude oil prices fell nearly $1 a barrel Wednesday despite a Department of Energy report that showed crude inventories had declined in the past week, news services reported.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures closed at $58.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 95 cents from Tuesday's closing price, Bloomberg reported.

The July futures contract expired Tuesday with a $58.90 closing price; the August contract, which began, had closed at $59.04 Tuesday.

DOE in its weekly report said crude inventories fell 1.58 million barrels to 327.4 million for the week ended June 17, less than the 2 million drop predicted by analysts.

Distillate inventories rose 1.37 million barrels to 111.5 million, below the 1.95 million barrel increase predicted by analysts, Bloomberg said. Distillates include heating oil and diesel fuel.

DOE also reported that gasoline inventories rose 197,000 barrels for the week.

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