Prices lower on gain in crude oil inventories

Oil prices fell slightly on Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration said that crude oil inventories were up last week but that gasoline and distillates stockpiles fell over the week.

Crude oil added 1.2 million barrels in the week ending 28 September.

Most of the increase was on the west coast, while the Cushing, Oklahoma, facility was up by around 300,000 barrels even as other Midwest facilities saw their inventories decline.

Gasoline stockpiles, meanwhile, fell by 100,000 barrels and distillates dropped by 1.2 million barrels even though supplies of both had been expected to increase over the week.

Refinery utilization was up by 0.6 percent to 87.5 percent of capacity, a bit more than the 0.4 percent gain that had been anticipated.

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was 8 cents lower to $79.97 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while November contracts for Brent crude dropped 19 cents to $77.19 on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

Nymex November gasoline was down 1 cent to 1.99 per gallon, while November heating oil gained 2 cents to $2.18 per gallon and November natural gas dropped 15 cents to $7.28 per 1,000 cubic feet.