INSTANT VIEW: U.S. crude, refined fuel stocks slip: EIA

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil and distillate inventories fell unexpectedly last week alongside an anticipated decline in gasoline stocks, a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed on Thursday.

U.S. oil prices traded down nearly $2 a barrel after the report.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM EIA REPORT (In million barrels):

- Crude -1.9 (forecast +0.2)

- Distillate -0.4 (forecast +0.5)

- Gasoline -1.0 (forecast -1.4)

ANALYST COMMENTS:

JIM RITTERBUSCH, PRESIDENT, RITTERBUSCH & ASSOCIATES, GALENA,

ILLINOIS:

"The gasoline stock draw was slightly smaller than average industry ideas but appeared driven by a sharp drop in imports, a decline that will likely be reversed during the next few weeks based on arbitrage considerations.

"Also, the fact that the refinery runs increased by a sizable 1.4 percent of capacity is significant since it could take some steam out of the recent crack spread strength by providing a cushion to some of the recent storm related outages."

TOM BENTZ, ANALYST, BNP PARIBAS COMMODITY FUTURES INC., NEW

YORK:

"Crude actually drew as opposed to expectations for unchanged to a build, but yet the market still hasn't been able to get through this resistance area. $110 still acts as a pretty strong resistance in crude. The market initially popped, but ran into trouble around $110 and is now drifting back off again.

"The thing is, this report has nothing to do with Gustav. Even though we had the big jump in refining capacity this week, I think people are just realizing that next week you'll see a huge drop in refining capacity because of all the refineries that are out. This report is mostly a non-event, I think most people are kind of looking at the next couple of week's reports to get a clearer picture."

TIM EVANS, ENERGY ANALYST, CITI FUTURES PERSPECTIVE, NEW YORK:

"The data was at least moderately supportive, with the 1.9 million barrel decline in crude stocks and the counter-seasonal decline in distillate stocks the headline figures.

"Four-week average gasoline demand is 2.2 percent less than a year ago. Distillates offtake is up 1 percent over the latest four weeks. These demand numbers are similar to the recent data, so no great surprise."

MARK WAGGONER, PRESIDENT, EXCEL FUTURES, HUNTINGTON BEACH,

CALIFORNIA:

"We just got crude numbers being down, and thinking of what happened last week, we will be further down on crude supplies by next week's data. Right now, people are still jockeying here. We are still watching for how (Hurricane) Ike will turn out."

PHIL FLYNN, ANALYST, ALARON TRADING, CHICAGO:

"Kind of a surprise on the draw downs. The imports caused the draws again, especially on gasoline and distillates. It was probably the beginning of Gustav preparations as ports got ready to shut down. The market isn't really reacting to the draws because it knows the import loss is probably a transitory issue. The report did show a late surge in refining ahead of the storm, which was the good part of the report."

ROB KURZATOWSKI, FUTURES ANALYST, OPTIONSXPRESS, CHICAG,

ILLINIOS

"This report threw us a curveball this week. The drawdown in distillates will be the driving force but I think the gasoline number will somewhat neutralize it. There is some good news on the demand side, looks like it is up a bit.

"Cushing stocks rose for the first time in a month, probably on stocks going to storage ahead of Gustav."