Crude inventories fell last week, while gasoline supplies grew, the government said Thursday.
Crude inventories dropped by 5.9 million barrels, or 1.7 percent, to 337.5 million barrels, which is 11.5 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Analysts had expected a smaller drop of 1.8 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 4, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Gasoline inventories rose by 2.1 million barrels, or 1 percent, to 207.2 million barrels. These results are 6.1 percent above year-ago levels. Analysts had expected a drop in gasoline stocks.
Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Sept. 4 was 2.2 percent higher than a year earlier, averaging nearly 9.3 million barrels a day.
At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 87.2 percent of total capacity on average, on par with with last week's results. Analysts expected capacity to fall to 86.5 percent.
Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2 million barrels to 165.6 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 4. Analysts expected distillate stocks to jump by 1.1 million barrels.
Crude prices rose 30 cents to $71.61 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
