Oil Rally Halts Despite Crude Inventory Draw

Oil prices didn't extend gains today after the Energy Information Administration reported a crude oil inventory decline of 3.3 million barrels for the week to August 19. This compared with a draw of 7.1 million barrels estimated for the previous week by the Department of Energy agency. One day before, the American Petroleum Institute had estimated that crude oil inventories had shed 5.6 million barrels in the week to August 19. In fuels, the inventory situation was a bit different. Gasoline inventories remained virtually unchanged and middle distillate…