US crude oil supplies fell by 4.3 million barrels

[July 06, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's crude oil supplies fell last week, the government said Wednesday.

Crude supplies declined by 4.3 million barrels, or 1.1 percent, to 382.9 million barrels, which is 6.8 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts expected a decrease of 2 million barrels for the week ended June 29, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies grew by 200,000 barrels, or 0.1 percent, to 205 million barrels. That's 3.6 percent below year-ago levels. Analysts expected gasoline supplies to be unchanged from the previous week.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended June 29 was 4.3 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging 8.9 million barrels a day.

U.S. refineries ran at 92 percent of operable capacity on average, 0.6 percentage point down from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to be unchanged.

Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.1 million barrels to 117.8 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to rise by 500,000 barrels.

[Associated Press]

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