By Xinhua
New York : Crude futures retreated from a new intraday high Thursday after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected decline in crude oil inventories.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 44 cents to settle at 99.18 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after hitting a new record high of 100.09 dollars.
The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said Thursday crude inventories fell by 4 million barrels last week, much more than the 1.7 million barrel decline analysts had expected.
Inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 600,000 barrels. Stockpiles of gasoline rose by 1.9 million barrels.
Gasoline and heating oil futures also declined after setting new trading records. February gasoline fell 2.75 cents to settle at 2.5414 dollars and heating oil prices fell 2.13 cents to 2.7191 dollars a gallon.
In London, February Brent crude fell 24 cents to 97.60 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Crude futures briefly hit the 100-dollar landmark Wednesday on concerns of tight supply and weak dollar.