Oil supplies are steady; gasoline stocks increased last week

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s oil supplies were flat last week, though gasoline supplies increased slightly, the government said Wednesday.

Crude inventories remained at 370.3 million barrels, which is 2.1 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts expected an increase of 500,000 barrels for the week ended May 13, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline inventories rose by 100,000 barrels, or 0.1 percent, to 205.9 million barrels. That was below analysts’ expectations and 7.2 percent below year-ago levels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended May 13 was 2.3 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging nearly 9 million barrels a day.

At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 83.2 percent of total capacity on average, a rise of 1.5 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to rise to 81.98 percent.

Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.2 million barrels to 143.1 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to increase by 600,000 barrels.

Benchmark crude rose $2.74 to $99.65 per barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.