Oil holds to gain after surprise supply decline (by Claudia Assis)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures held to gains Wednesday after a weekly U.S. government report on inventories showed a surprise decline. Crude for March delivery (cl2h) advanced 63 cents, or 0.6%, to $101.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, trading close to same levels seen ahead of the report. The Energy Information Administration said crude supplies for the week ended Feb. 10 declined by 200,000 barrels. Analysts polled by Platts had expected crude inventories to rise 1.9 million barrels on the week. The EIA also said gasoline inventories rose 400,000 barrels, and distillates supplies declined 2.9 million barrels. The analysts surveyed by Platts had expected gasoline inventories up 600,000 barrels and distillates stockpiles down 600,000 barrels.