Crude supplies continue to grow
Crude inventories grew last week, though gasoline supplies dropped as refiners pulled back on operations, the government said Wednesday.
Crude inventories climbed by 2.8 million barrels, or 0.8 percent, to 338.4 million barrels, which is 11.4 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Analysts had expected a build of 2.1 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 25, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Gasoline inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels, or 0.8 percent, to 211.5 million barrels. That was 10.6 percent above year-ago levels. Analysts expected stockpiles to grow by 1.2 million barrels.
Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Sept. 25 was 5.4 percent higher than a year earlier, averaging nearly 9.1 million barrels a day.
At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 84.6 percent of total capacity on average, a drop of 1 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to slip to 85 percent.
Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, grew by 300,000 barrels to 171.1 million barrels for the week. Analysts expected distillate stockpiles to grow by 900,000 barrels.
Crude prices added 41 cents at $67.12 per barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright 2009 AP News
