U.S. oil prices pared much of their earlier losses Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies plunged by 12.6 million barrels for the week ended July 6. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a fall of 4.8 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a drop of 6.8 million barrels, according to sources.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 700,000 barrels for the week, but distillate stockpiles jumped 4.1 million barrels higher for the week, according to the EIA.
The S&P Global Platts survey forecast a supply decrease of 1 million barrels for gasoline and a rise of 1.7 million barrels for distillate stocks.
August crude CLQ8, -0.67 fell 40 cents, or 0.5%, to $73.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from $73.27 before the supply data.