Oil prices fell below $75 a barrel Wednesday after the U.S. government said crude supplies shrank less than expected and stock markets retreated from Tuesday's rally. In its weekly petroleum inventory report, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration (EI) said crude supplies fell by 800,000 barrels, significantly less than the 2.25 million-barrel decline expected by analysts. Gasoline inventories were virtually unchanged, and supplies of distillates—including diesel, heating oil, and jet fuel—rose by 1.1 million barrels, as expected. U.S. refineries operated at a surprising 90 percent of total capacity, a rise of 1.9 percentage points from the previous week. Analysts had expected capacity to drop to 87 percent.
