Crude oil prices fell modestly Wednesday after a government report showed US heating oil and diesel inventories rose for last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude oil futures for September deliver fell 9 cents to close at 59.11 dollars per barrel. On London's International Petroleum Exchange, the September Brent crude-oil futures contract dropped 2 cents to settle at 58.01 dollars a barrel.

On Wednesday, the Energy Department said stockpiles of distillate fuel, a category that included diesel and heating oil, rose 3.1 million barrels to 125.8 million in the week ended July 22. It was the 10th straight supply rise. Crude oil stocks fell 2. 25 million barrels to 317.8 million, the seventh drop in the eight weeks. Gasoline supplies declined 2.1 million barrels to 209.2 million.

Meanwhile, gasoline for August delivery rose 2 cents to end at 1.1758 dollars a gallon in New York. Prices touched 1.86 dollars on July 8, the highest since the contract began trading in 1984.

Source: Xinhua