EIA reports 2 consecutive weeks of declines in U.S. crude supplies

The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday released data showing declines in U.S. crude supplies in the past two weeks. Data covering the week ended June 17, which the EIA had delayed due to “systems issues,” revealed a fall to 418.3 million barrels in crude supplies, from 418.7 million barrels the week before, implying a decline of roughly 400,000 barrels. Data covering the week ended June 24 showed a fall of 2.8 million barrels to 415.6 million barrels, compared with an average decrease of 500,000 barrels forecast by analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights. The report also showed increases of 2.6 million barrels each for supplies of gasoline and distillates for the week ended June 24. Survey forecasts called for declines of 875,000 and 525,000 barrels for gasoline and distillates, respectively. August West Texas Intermediate crude was up 74 cents, or 0.7%, at $112.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $113.79 before the supply data.

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