Oil Falls to Near $60 a Barrel as Inventories Rise
Oil fell almost $3 to near $60 a barrel Wednesday, following an Energy Department report that showed the highest level of distillate fuel inventories in 16 years, Bloomberg reported.
The $2.79 decline — which was the sixth consecutive trading-day downturn — left crude at a closing price of $60.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg said.
DOE said in its weekly inventory report that distillates, which include diesel, saw a 3.7 million barrel gain of for the week, the biggest since January and leaving distillate stockpiles at their highest level since at least 1993.
Gasoline inventories also gained, climbing 1.9 million barrels, well over economists’ forecasts of a 900,000-barrel increase for the week ended Saturday, Bloomberg reported.
Crude inventories fell 2.9 million barrels, DOE said, and oil has fallen more than $11 since June 29 when it closed at $71.49 a barrel on the Nymex.
Separately, regulators in the U.S. and Europe are eyeing more regulation of commodities markets to avoid spikes like the records reached last summer, news reports said Wednesday.
