EIA: Crude oil inventories up 3.9 million barrels last week

Crude oil prices in New York trade fell after the US Energy Information Administration said that stockpiles of crude, gasoline, and distillates all increased last week, but by just before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange the price of June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was back to 3 cents higher than Tuesday’s close to $48.58 per barrel.

The EIA said that crude oil inventories gained 3.9 million barrels last week, to 370.6 million barrels in storage, while gasoline stockpiles added 800,000 barrels and distillates in storage were 2.7 million barrels higher in the week.

Crude, gasoline and distillates inventories are now above where they were last year at this time, with the most crude oil in storage in nearly 20 years.

Analysts had expected gasoline stockpiles to drop by about as much as they ended up increasing last week, while crude inventories had been expected to go up, but not by as much as they did.

Nymex May gasoline futures were down 3 cents in afternoon trade, to $1.38 per gallon, while AAA reported that the retail price of a gallon of gas in the United States went up less than a cent to $2.062 per gallon on average.