EIA: Crude inventories down; gasoline, distillates see gains

Crude oil prices fell at the close of trade on Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that while crude oil stockpiles were lower last week, gasoline and distillates inventories were higher.

February contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude fell 69 cents to $95.64 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude for February delivery was down $1.30 to $94.24 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex February gasoline was 4 cents lower to $2.44 per gallon while February heating oil dropped a cent to $2.63 per gallon but March natural gas was 5 cents higher to $8.03 per million British thermal units.

US crude oil inventories dropped 6.8 million barrels in the week ending 4 January, while gasoline inventories grew by 5.3 million barrels and distillates stockpiles gained 1.5 million barrels.

Gold prices were a bit higher in New York on Wednesday, remaining in record territory for a second day in a row among mixed results for other precious metals.

February gold added $1.60 by near the close of floor trade on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange to $881.90 per troy ounce, while March silver added 2 cents to $15.82 per troy ounce, but April platinum was $1.50 lower to $1,559 per troy ounce.

Meanwhile among base metals, March copper dropped 1 cent to $2.39 per pound in New York on analyst predictions that the US will likely drop into recession.

Grains prices fell on the session in Chicago.

March corn on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 1.5 cents to $4.76 per bushel while March CBOT soybeans were down 4.5 cents to $12.62 per bushel and CBOT March wheat dropped 18 cents to $8.89 per bushel.

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