The front-month contract for light, sweet crude fell 23 cents Thursday to $72.28 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the same contract for October delivery settled at $72.51 after adding another $1.58.
On Wednesday the Energy department said crude inventories fell by a larger-than-expected 4.7 million barrels last week. Still, distillate fuel supplies surged by 2.2 million barrels and gasoline stocks grew by 500,000.
By the closing bell Wednesday, all of the major oil shares finished higher. Shares of Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote), Chevron(CVX Quote) and ConocoPhillips(COP Quote) rose by 1.2%, 1.1% and 1%.
Shares of Hess(HES Quote) put on $2.13 to close at $56.44, while Marathon Oil(MRO Quote) changed hands at $33.85 at the closing bell, up 91 cents.
The biggest major winner in the energy realm, though, appeared to be Anadarko Petroleum(APC Quote), which tracked higher by 9.6% after announcing Wednesday the discovery of a big oil find off the coast of West Africa.
