New York (Platts)--3Jun2015/430 pm EDT/2030 GMT

The oil complex settled lower Wednesday weighed down by US Energy Information Administration data showing record-high crude production and a large decline in implied gasoline demand.

NYMEX July crude settled $1.62 lower at $59.64/b, while ICE July Brent settled down $1.69 at $63.80/b.

In refined product activity, NYMEX July ULSD settled 5.37 cents lower $1.8918/gal and NYMEX July RBOB settled down 1.95 cents at $2.0453/gal.

Daily production rose 20,000 b/d last week to 9.586 million barrels, highest level going back to at least 1983. The weekly increase was limited to Alaskan output, while lower 48 production was unchanged at 9.079 million b/d.

"The focus was on the strong production instead of the downdraft in gasoline inventories," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates, said.

Gasoline stocks decreased 334,000 barrels last week to 220.293 million barrels, though implied gasoline demand plunged 756,000 b/d to to 8.978 million b/d.

Crude stocks fell 1.948 million barrels to 477.415 million barrels for the week ended May 29, though analysts surveyed by Platts Monday expected crude stocks decreased 2.4 million barrels.

"The crude inventory draw was underwhelming," Andy Lipow, president at Lipow Oil Associates, said.

At Cushing, Oklahoma -- delivery point for the NYMEX crude futures contract -- stocks fell for the sixth consecutive week, as Gulf Coast refiners draw more barrels and the economic incentive to store crude disappears.

"Contango in the market no longer justifies people holding onto their inventory, so we'll continue to see draws in Cushing," Lipow said.

Another factor behind Cushing's reduction last week was wildfires in Alberta, Canada, which shut in heavy oil production replaced by Cushing barrels out of storage, he said.

--Geoffrey Craig, geoffrey.craig@platts.com  
--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard.rubin@platts.com

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