Oil futures reversed course and closed lower despite early gains on Wednesday after official U.S. data provided by The Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that domestic commercial crude supplies fell significantly less than the market expected last week. Brent futures took a slight hit, sliding by 17 cents to reach $79.46 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude decreased by 40 cents to settle at $75.35 per barrel. The EIA also reported that the gasoline inventories dropped by 1.1 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles remained mostly flat week over week.