World crude oil prices fell modestly Thursday, after gasoline supplies rose abruptly.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, fell 18 cents to close with 67.32 dollars per barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for October delivery settled down 40 cents at 66.53 dollars per barrel.

Energy Department said Thursday that U.S. commercial crude inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels last week to 330.6 million, or 6.2 percent above year-ago levels. The drop was steeper than the decline of 1.1 million barrels expected by analysts.

However, gasoline supplies rose by 700,000 barrels last week to 206.9 million, which was 6.6 percent above year-ago levels. Analysts had been expecting a drop of 900,000 barrels for gasoline stocks.

The report also showed that U.S. refineries operated at 93.6 percent of capacity last week, up from 92.9 percent in the prior week.

Source: Xinhua