Oil Closes at More Than $96 a Barrel

Crude oil closed at more than $96 Thursday for the first time in a month, following an Energy Department report that showed declining inventories, Bloomberg reported.

Benchmark light sweet crude futures closed at $96.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since a $97.70 closing price on Nov. 26, Bloomberg said.

Crude stockpiles fell 3.3 million barrels last week, DOE said in its weekly report, released a day later than usual because of Christmas this week. Supplies were expected to fall 1.5 million barrels, Bloomberg said.

Distillate inventories, which include diesel and home heating oil, fell by 2.8 million barrels, the biggest drop since February. A 900,000-barrel decline was forecast by analysts, Bloomberg said.