Crude Oil Drops After Inventory Report

Oil futures moved lower Wednesday after the Energy Department released new petroleum inventory figures showing a larger-than-expected build in crude stores for the week ended June 20.

Texas light sweet crude was recently down $3.35 at $133.65 a barrel, and Brent crude was $2.86 lower at $133.60 a barrel. Reformulated gasoline was losing 8 cents at $3.38 a gallon, heating oil was sliding 7 cents at $3.74 a gallon, and natural gas was off 24 cents at $12.77 per million British thermal units.

The Energy Information Administration's weekly storage report showed that domestic crude stocks grew by 803,000 barrels last week. Analysts were expecting a draw of 1.1 million barrels. Motor gasoline stocks fell by 153,000 barrels, whereas analysts had forecast that gas stocks would remain unchanged. Also, distillate inventories increased by 2.8 million barrels, or about 800,000 barrels more than analysts were expecting.

The inventory report comes as a relief to many energy watchdogs. Inventory reports in previous weeks had shown a slide in crude oil and petroleum product stocks, leading some analysts to question whether the U.S. had enough petroleum to supply domestic markets through the summer driving season.

Meanwhile, energy stocks were for the most part lower. BP (BP Quote) was gaining 1.4% at $68.21, ConocoPhillips(COP Quote) was falling 1.2% at $93.52 and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A Quote) was advancing 0.4% at $78.64.

Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote) was down 0.8% at $86.25. The U.S. Oil (USO Quote) ETF, which tends to closely track the values of WTI contracts on the Nymex, was recently trading 2.6% lower at $108.01.