WTI gains after EIA inventories report

Prices for July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were at $71.79 per barrel in the day’s session before easing back to trade 74 cents above Tuesday’s close to $70.75 per barrel about half an hour before the close of trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The gains came after the US Energy Information Administration said that inventories of crude oil fell by 4.4 million barrel in the week ending 5 June to 361.6 million barrels, largely due to declines in imports and still 59.4 million barrels above stockpiles last year at this time.

At last report, Brent crude was 85 cents higher to $70.47 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

At the same time, gasoline inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels last week as output by refiners fell and demand grew, while distillates in storage dropped by 300,000 barrels.

In afternoon trade, Nymex July gasoline futures were up 3 cents to $2.00 per gallon.

Nymex July heating oil added 2 cents during the session to $1.83 per gallon while July natural gas declined 2 cents to $3.72 per million British thermal units.