Crude oil inventories declined more than expected while motor gasoline inventories rose last week, the government said Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.
Commercial crude oil supplies fell by 2 million barrels to 363.1 million barrels, the Energy Department said in its weekly report.
Analysts had forecast a decline of 1.2 million barrels in the oil stockpiles, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Gasoline inventories rose by 500,000 barrels last week to 218.1 million barrels. Analysts had predicted a decline of 400,000 barrels of gasoline supplies.
In the past for weeks, gasoline demand has averaged 9.3 million barrels a day, an increase of about 1.5 percent from the year-ago period, the Energy Information Administration said.
Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, increased by 2.5 million barrels to 159.4 million barrels for the week ending June 25. Analysts had forecast distillate stocks to increase by 1.3 million barrels.
Refineries operated at 88.4 percent of capacity last week, down slightly from the analysts’ forecast of 89.8 percent.
Oil prices fell 24 cents to $75.70 in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
