Crude falls after EIA inventories numbers

Crude oil prices fell a bit more Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration said that crude oil and distillates inventories were up last week but gasoline stockpiles were lower again.

Inventories of crude oil added 1.7 million barrels in the week ending 1 August, with gains attributed to more imports and declines in refining as refinery utilization dropped to 87 percent last week from 87.2 percent the week before.

Gasoline stockpiles were down 4.4 million barrels, to a total of 209.2 million barrels in storage, but inventories remained 6.2 million barrels higher than last year at the same time, while distillates in storage were up 2.8 million barrels last week.

Demand for gasoline in the United States was down 2.3 percent during the four weeks ending last Friday from last year’s levels during the same period.

Some reports had gasoline demand up slightly last week, from the week before, but demand is likely to fall again soon as the US summer driving season draws to a close.

Meanwhile, at the pump prices for regular unleaded gasoline dropped 1 cent overnight to a national average of $3.852 per gallon.

West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down 67 cents to $118.50 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at last report Brent crude had dropped $1.11 to $116.59 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

More disappointing news on Iran’s stance concerning its nuclear program and reports of a pipeline fire in Turkey did not seem to concern investors.