US supplies up but operating capacity down

According to data released by the U.S. Energy Department Wednesday, crude oil supplies are up 3.6 percent last week, with a total supply of 320.7 million barrels in stock.

This was the ninth weekly rise in a row, and is the highest stockpile since June 2002. The news was not all good, however.

Operating capacity of U.S. refineries was reported to be 91 percent. That was down from 93.7 percent last week.

This news pushed crude oil prices higher Thursday.

Nymex WTI was lower in early trading, hitting a seven-week low of $50.06 per barrel, but it later went up to $50.37 on May delivery contracts.

Brent was up as well, rising 40 cents to $50.88 per barrel on May contracts and 42 cents higher, to $51.80, for June deliveries.

These prices are still lower than the all-time highs of $58.28 per barrel for Nymax and $57.65 per barrel for Brent, reached on Monday of last week.

The fact that U.S. gasoline use was up 4.1 percent the past four weeks compared with the same period last year, with the summer driving season almost here, also caused worries.