Crude Oil Supplies Fall, Distillates Gain, DOE Says

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rude oil supplies fell more than expected Wednesday, dropping 1.8 million barrels to 329 million, the Department of Energy reported in its weekly inventory survey.

The decline was more than the 1-million barrel drop expected by analysts, and helped pushed crude oil futures above $56 a barrel in intraday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before they fell back to close at $55.57, Bloomberg said.

The intraday high price of $56.75 was the highest price since April 7. Crude futures hit a record $58.28 on April 4.

Meanwhile, distillate inventories gained 2.4 million barrels last week, and gasoline inventories fell by 900,000 barrels, DOE said. Heating-oil stocks rose 1.4 million barrels, about in line with analyts' projections.

The distillate gain dropped heating-oil futures prices slightly, following Monday’s second-highest closing price on record, Bloomberg reported.

Heating oil and diesel are both distillate fuels and their prices often parallel each other. Heating-oil futures are 68% higher than this time last year, Bloomberg said.