Crude oil futures pared losses Wednesday after a weekly U.S. government report showed a drop in inventories for the week ended Aug. 10.
Crude for September delivery declined 10 cents, or 0.1%, to $93.38 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil had traded at $92.91 U.S. a barrel immediately before the report. The Energy Information Administration reported a decline of 3.7 million barrels in crude inventories. That contrasted with expectations of a decline around 1.5 million barrels, according to analysts polled by Platts.
The EIA also reported gasoline stocks down 2.4 million barrels, and supplies of distillates increased 700,000 barrels. The analysts surveyed by Platts had expected gasoline supplies to decline 2.3 million, and distillates inventories to be unchanged.
