Crude-oil Futures Rise As U.s. Inventory Falls Stocks Were 10 Million Barrels Lower Than A Week Earlier. The Government Said The Cause Was A Drop-off In Imports.

API data also showed that gasoline stocks were down to 207 million barrels from 210 million at this time last year.

The DOE figures released yesterday morning showed an even sharper 10-million-barrel drop in crude stocks from the previous week, and a 600,000-barrel drop in gasoline stocks.

"This is definitely a bullish shock to the market. People were not expecting to see this," Evans said. "In fact, most analysts were looking for an increase in stocks from last week," while some may have anticipated a small drop.

"Nobody was looking for a 10-million-barrel drop," he said.

Lower supplies of crude oil will mean refineries running at lower capacity, which will translate into less heating oil and less gasoline, Evans said.

A Bloomberg study released yesterday showed that OPEC oil production rose 190,000 barrels a day, or 0.7 percent, in July as most members pumped more to meet higher quotas.

Output from all 11 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose to 28.27 million barrels a day from a revised June level of 28.08 million, the survey of producers, oil companies and analysts showed.

Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest producer, increased output by 100,000 barrels a day, the survey showed.

Among other energy products, September heating oil rose 1.42 cent to 78.26 cents a gallon, September unleaded gasoline fell 0.29 cent to 86.92 cents a gallon and September natural gas rose 2.27 cents to $4.214 per 1,000 cubic feet.