Oil pares gains on crude supply fall

Crude-oil futures pared gains Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a smaller-than-expected 100,000-barrel decline in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended June 1.

Motor gasoline supplies rose by 3.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks added 2.3 million barrels in the latest week, the E.I.A. report said.

Analysts polled by Platts expected a one-million-barrel decline in last week's crude-oil supplies. They also forecast an increase of 500,000 barrels in inventories of gasoline and a rise of 600,000 barrels in distillate stocks.

The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a 1.8 million-barrel fall in crude supplies. Following the latest data, July crude rose $1.40, or 1.7%, to $85.69 U.S. a barrel. It was trading around $86 U.S. shortly before the data release.

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