Oil futures rose Wednesday after the U.S. government reported large and unexpected declines in crude-oil and gasoline inventories. Light sweet crude for December delivery jumped $1.29 to $86.56 a barrel in late-morning trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Energy Department said in its weekly petroleum inventory report that U.S. crude-oil supplies fell last week by 5.3 million barrels. Analysts had expected a rise of 300,000 barrels. Analysts said the decline was particularly surprising because refineries are shutting down for seasonal maintenance, processing less crude. Refinery activity fell last week by 0.2 percentage point to 87.1 percent of capacity. Analysts had expected an increase of 0.3 percentage point. Much of the decline in crude-oil supplies was due to a sharp drop in imports, which fell last week by 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) to an average of 9.1 million bpd. U.S. supplies of gasoline and distillates also fell last week. Gasoline inventories declined by 2 million barrels, in contrast to analysts' expectations for an increase of 1.1 million barrels. Gasoline imports fell last week by 255,000 bpd to an average of 838,000 bpd. Also supporting prices, demand for gasoline rose last week by 120,000 barrels. Inventories of distillates-including heating oil, diesel, and jet fuel-fell by 1.8 million barrels last week. Analysts had expected a rise of 200,000 barrels.
