Oil Slips Below $70 Following DOE Report
Oil prices fell to below $70 a barrel Wednesday following a Department of Energy report that showed crude supplies rose last week, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures fell $1.49 to $69.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had dipped 16 cents Tuesday after earlier topping $72, Bloomberg said.
DOE reported Wednesday that crude inventories gained 1.7 million barrels last week, well over the 600,000 barrels forecast by analysts, Bloomberg reported.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 200,000 barrels and distillates, which include diesel, fell by 1.1 million barrels for the week ended Saturday, DOE said in its weekly report.
Oil prices are up 60% this year although prices have fallen by more than half since the $145.29 record Nymex closing price set in July 2008.
