Oil Rises for Third Day, Topping $85 a Barrel

Oil rose for a third day, topping $85 a barrel as supplies slipped and economic reports that signaled higher demand, Bloomberg reported.

Crude futures rose 73 cents to finish the trading day at $85.02 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg said.

Oil inventories fell by 100,000 barrels last week, the Department of Energy said in its weekly report, a smaller decline than the 500,000 barrel drop forecast by analysts.

Gasoline inventories dropped by 3.4 million barrels, in contrast to a 1 million barrel gain predicted, Bloomberg reported.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel, rose by 2.3 million barrels, beating analysts’ estimates of a 250,000 barrel decline.

Oil finished last week’s Nymex trading at $83.23, the lowest closing price since October. The price rose to just below $84 and just above that level on Monday and Tuesday.

Also pushing the price higher was a Tuesday’s report that the economy’s service sector improved in May, Bloomberg said.