Oil closes down on U.S. reserves report

NEW YORK, June 20 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices closed lower Wednesday, the first loss in six sessions, after U.S. data reported supplies increased by nearly 7 million barrels.

Crude oil finished 91 cents lower at $68.19 a barrel after trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange ended. It had closed more than $69 per barrel Monday and Tuesday.

The Energy Department reported commercial crude oil supplies jumped 6.9 million barrels last week to 349.3 million barrels.

Natural gas finished the session with a loss of 12.8 cents at $7.391 per million British thermal units.

Heating oil rose by 0.71 cents to end the session at $2.0339 a gallon.

Gasoline closed down 0.65 cents at $2.2281 a gallon.

At the pump, the price of a gallon of gasoline fell to $2.998 Wednesday, down from $3.002 the day before, the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report reported.