US crude oil supplies up by 300,000 barrels

[April 11, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's crude oil supplies rose last week, the government said Wednesday.

Crude supplies grew by 300,000 barrels, or 0.1 percent, to 388.9 million barrels, which is 6.5 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts expected an increase of 1.4 million barrels for the week ended April 5, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies expanded by 1.7 million barrels, or 0.8 percent, to 222.4 million barrels. That's 2.2 percent higher than year-ago levels. Analysts expected gasoline supplies to shrink by 1.8 million barrels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended April 5 was 2.4 percent lower than a year ago, averaging 8.4 million barrels a day.

U.S. refineries ran at 86.8 percent of total capacity on average, up 0.5 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to increase to 86.6 percent.

Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, decreased by 200,000 barrels to 112.8 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to drop by 1.8 million barrels.

Benchmark crude fell 12 cents to $94.08 a barrel in New York.

[Associated Press]

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