US crude oil supplies drop by 3.7 million barrels

[August 16, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's crude oil supplies fell last week, the government said Wednesday.

Crude supplies declined by 3.7 million barrels, or 1 percent, to 366.2 million barrels, which is 3.4 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts expected a drop of 1.5 million barrels for the week ended Aug. 10, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies shrank by 2.4 million barrels, or 1.2 percent, to 203.7 million barrels. That's 3 percent lower than year-ago levels. Analysts expected gasoline supplies to decline by 2.3 million barrels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Aug. 10 was 2.8 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging 8.9 million barrels a day.

U.S. refineries ran at 92.6 percent of total capacity on average, down 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to fall to 92.5 percent.

Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 700,000 barrels to 124.2 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to be unchanged.

Benchmark crude rose 35 cents to $93.78 a barrel in New York.

[Associated Press]

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