Gasoline inventories up despite lower refinery production

New inventories data that showed both crude oil and gasoline stockpiles up in the US in the week ending June 2 sent crude oil prices down on Wednesday as investors’ supply concerns eased somewhat.  Crude oil inventories were up by 1.1 million barrels to a total of 346.6 million barrels as more crude oil was imported into the US and refineries did not process as much crude into petroleum products.  Even though production was down, gasoline stockpiles added 1 million barrels on the week to a total of 210.3 million barrels on hand.

July contracts for Brent crude dropped by $1.26 to $69.55 per barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange in late afternoon trade in London.  Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery had lost $1.45 to $71.05 in early afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  In addition, Nymex July unleaded gasoline was down 4.38 cents to $2.1350 per gallon, while July heating oil was down 5.26 cents to $1.9900 per gallon.