Oil supply climbs, but gasoline stocks drop: API ( CL1Z ) (by Myra P. Saefong)

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil supplies unexpectedly climbed by 1.3 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 11, the American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday. But gasoline inventories dropped by 2.9 million barrels and distillate inventories declined by 2.6 million barrels, the trade group said. Analysts polled by Platts had forecasted declines of 1.5 million barrels each for crude-oil and gasoline inventories for last week, along with a fall of 3 million in distillate stocks. Following the data, December crude (cl1z) was up 2 cents a barrel in electronic trading - little changed from the level prior to the data's release. It had closed at $98.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The API's figures come ahead of Wednesday's more closely-watched Energy Information Administration report.