Crude: +2.7 (vs. +1.4 fcst)
Gasoline: +0.9 (vs. +0.6 fcst)
Distillate: -4.1 (vs. -0.9) fcst)
NEW YORK, March 2 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures were little changed in post-settlement trading on Tuesday, after industry data showed a larger-than-expected build in crude inventories and greater-than-forecast drawdown in distillates.
Heating oil futures rose further on the data and gasoline futures firmed, even though the report showed that gasoline stocks rose higher than expected.
The distillates data "comes with a strong caveat as the new API stock total is still 1.9 million barrels higher than last week's DOE tally, so this API result may only be correcting a prior divergence between the two sets of data," said Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York.
Earlier, crude futures settled more than 1 percent higher on a brighter economic outlook and signs of progress in cobbling up financial support for debt-stricken Greece.
Traders said they saw fund and index fund buying fueling the day's dealings. The improved outlook for Greece's debt problems pushed U.S. stocks up for a third straight day.