The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies edged down by 439,000 barrels for the week ended May 21, according to sources. The data also reportedly showed gasoline stockpiles down by nearly 2 million barrels, while distillate inventories dropped by 5.1 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., storage hub, meanwhile, fell by nearly 1.2 million barrels for the week, sources said. Inventory data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday. On average, the EIA is expected to show crude inventories down by 2.2 million barrels, according to a survey of analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts. It also forecast supply declines of 700,000 barrels for gasoline and 1.6 million barrels for distillates. July West Texas Intermediate crude was at $66.02 barrel in electronic trading, compared with Tuesday’s settlement at $66.07 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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