Oil futures continued to trade lower Wednesday, though they pared some losses briefly after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a fall of 1.4 million barrels in crude stockpiles for the week ended Aug. 16.
Analysts polled by Platts were looking for a one-million-barrel decline. Gasoline supplies dropped by four million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 900,000 barrels, the EIA said.
Gasoline stockpiles were expected to decline by 1.5 million barrels, while forecasts called for an increase of 1 million barrels for distillates.
Following the latest data, October crude traded at $104.56 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 55 cents, or 0.5%.
It was trading at $104.74 U.S. shortly before the report. It climbed closer to $105 U.S. right after the data, then fell back toward the session's lows.
