Crude inventories rose last week, while gasoline supplies dropped, The Associated Press reports, citing government data.
Crude inventories grew by 2 million barrels, or 0.6 percent, to 356.2 million barrels, which is 2.7 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Meanwhile, crude prices fell 80 cents to $86.05 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Analysts expected a build of 1.5 million barrels for the week ended April 2, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Gasoline inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels, or 1.1 percent, to 222.4 million barrels. That drop was steeper than what analysts expected and 2.7 percent above year-ago levels.
Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended April 2 was 1.7 percent higher than a year earlier, averaging nearly 9 million barrels a day.
At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 84.5 percent of total capacity on average, a rise of 1.9 percent from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to build to 82.8 percent.
Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.1 million barrels to 89.5 million barrels for the week ended April 2. Analysts expected distillate stocks to decline by 1.5 million barrels.
