Crude oil futures prices picked up on Wednesday as U.S. commercial crude oil inventories declined in the previous week. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for July delivery gained 79 cents, or 1.10 percent, to settle at 72.53 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery increased by 66 cents, or 0.87 percent, to settle at 76.95 U.S. dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. U.S. commercial crude oil inventories dipped 500,000 barrels in the week ending June 2 despite voluminous increase of net crude oil imports in the same period, according to data issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday. Still, U.S. gasoline and distillate fuel inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels and 5.1 million barrels in last week, respectively.