EIA: crude oil stockpiles drop 3.7 million barrels

Crude oil prices fell in afternoon trade Wednesday despite a report from the US Energy Information Administration that said crude oil stockpiles in the US dropped by nearly 4 million barrels last week.

The EIA said in its weekly inventories report that US crude oil inventories were down 3.7 million barrels to 350.2 million barrels, still 50.4 million barrels than stockpiles last year at the same time.

The decline in crude inventories was more than had been expected by analysts.

Additionally, the EIA reported that gasoline stockpiles grew by 2.3 million barrels last week to 211.2 million barrels and distillates in storage grew by 2.9 million barrels to 155 million barrels, with both gasoline and distillates inventories also higher than the same week last year.

At an hour before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude had dropped $1.06 to $68.83 per barrel.

Earlier in the day, crude prices rose above $71 per barrel after a different survey by the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association that represents many corporations in the oil industry, said Tuesday that crude oil stockpiles had fallen by 6.8 million barrels last week.

Nymex August gasoline futures were also lower, down 3 cents to $1.90 per gallon in afternoon trade, while August heating oil futures had dropped more than 2 cents to $1.76 per gallon.