Oil slumps after EIA’s weekly supply report

Oil futures dropped on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed crude inventories held steady last week, rather than posting the decline analysts had expected.

Crude for August delivery was last down 67 cents, or 0.7%, to $94.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was trading around $95.11 shortly before the report. It briefly traded under $94 following the report, then recovered somewhat.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported U.S. crude-oil supplies held steady for the week ended June 21 at 394.1 million barrels. Analysts were looking for a 2 million-barrel decline.

At this level, the EIA said, inventories were above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.

Gasoline supplies rose by 3.7 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles increased by 1.6 million barrels, the EIA said. Gasoline stockpiles were expected to gain by 1 million barrels, and forecasts also called for a rise of 1 million barrels for distillates.

The more closely watched government report on Wednesday confirmed data released late Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute. The API had reported that crude stockpiles held steady.

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