Crude oil prices rise despite gains in US inventories

Crude oil prices were higher Thursday even after the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude inventories added 3.1 million barrels last week, up more than the expected gain of 1.65 million barrels.

At around 1 p.m. in New York, March contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up 83 cents to $78.16 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Excahnge, while Brent crude had gained 75 cents to $77.02 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

In addition, gasoline inventories in the US also grew more than expected last week, by 1.7 million barrels, but distillates in storage dropped by 2.9 million barrels, more than the decline of 1.6 million barrels that had been anticipated.

Meanwhile, the EIA also said that while natural gas inventories dropped last week, 2.03 trillion cubic feet remained in storage, almost 3 percent more than the 5-year average.

Nymex natural gas futures were down 21 cents to $5.18 per million British thermal units, while gasoline and heating oil futures each dropped 2 cents to an identical $2.03 per gallon.

Retail prices for gasoline were up slightly overnight to $2.614 per gallon on average in the United States, still almost 13 cents cheaper than last month.