A decline in US crude inventories last week, according to a report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), supported crude oil prices during the US session today, Wednesday, after declines since the beginning of the Asian session. US crude (NYMEX) rose by about 0.40%, trading at $67.17 a barrel, while Brent crude traded at $70.83 a barrel, up about 0.38%.
The EIA report, released a few moments ago, showed that US inventories rose for the third consecutive week by 1.7 million barrels in the week ending December 14, compared to expectations of an increase of about 500,000 barrels. In detail, gasoline inventories decreased by about 500,000 barrels, while distillate inventories, which include heating oil and diesel, also decreased by about 2.8 million barrels.