West Texas Intermediate gained for a third day on estimates that U.S. oil inventories dropped as refineries processed record amounts of crude for this time of year. Brent slipped. Stockpiles may have declined for a seventh time in the week ended Aug. 8, according to a Bloomberg survey before an Energy Information Administration report on Aug. 13. Refineries used 16.4 million barrels of oil a day in the week ended Aug. 1, the most since EIA began weekly data in 1989. Brent narrowed its premium over WTI on speculation that U.S. air strikes in Iraq diminished the threat to oil supplies posed by insurgents. “We are still seeing that trend here in the U.S. in terms of strong refinery demand,” said John Kilduff , a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy. “There is a bit of an argument for WTI to […]