US crude oil supplies grew by 1.8 million barrels
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's crude oil supplies rose last week, the government said Wednesday.
Crude supplies grew by 1.8 million barrels, or 0.5 percent, to 374.8 million barrels, which is 10.9 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Analysts expected an increase of 1 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 2, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Gasoline supplies grew by 2.9 million barrels, or 1.4 percent, to 202.4 million barrels. That's 0.9 percent lower than year-ago levels. Analysts expected gasoline supplies to shrink by 1 million barrels.
Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Nov. 2 was 0.2 percent higher than a year earlier, averaging 8.6 million barrels a day.
U.S. refineries ran at 85.4 percent of total capacity on average, down 2.3 percentage points from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to fall to 86.2 percent.
Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 100,000 barrels to 118.1 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to decrease by 2 million barrels.
Benchmark crude fell $3.62, or 4.1 percent, to $85.09 a barrel in New York.
