Oil pares loss as EIA reports crude-supply fall ( CLF3 RBF3 HOF3 ) (by Myra P. Saefong)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures pared losses Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a bigger-than-expected fall in crude supplies for the week ended Nov. 30. Crude supplies fell by 2.4 million barrels. Analysts polled by Platts expected a 1.25 million-barrel decline. Motor gasoline supplies, however, jumped by 7.9 million barrels, while distillate stocks added 3 million barrels, the EIA report said. Analysts had forecast a rise of 2 million barrels for gasoline inventories and a climb of 800,000 barrels in distillate supplies. Following the latest data, January crude (clf3) traded at $88.49 a barrel, down 1 cent. It was trading around $88.40 shortly before the report. The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that crude supplies fell 2.2 million barrels last week, following a revision to previous data.