Trade group sees oil supplies down 5 mln barrels

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)
The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday said crude inventories for the week ended Dec. 2 declined 5 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories rose 641,000, the trade group said.
Supplies of distillates added 1.7 million.
The API report comes ahead of Wednesday's more closely watched data by the Energy Information Administration.
Analysts polled by Platts expect a decline of 1.3 million barrels in crude inventories for that week. Oil settled 0.3% higher on Tuesday at $101.28 a barrel.