U.S. Reserves of Crude Oil, Refined Products Rise Last Week

U.S. reserves of crude oil, refined products rise last week

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) — U.S. inventories of commercial crude oil and refined products increased in the week ended Feb. 10, the Energy Department reported Wednesday in its weekly survey of petroleum products.

Commercial crude oil inventories rose by 4.9 million barrels last week to 325.6 million. Analysts had been expecting an advance of 1.1 million barrels for crude oil reserves.

Gasoline stockpiles, meanwhile, were up 2.2 million barrels to 225.5 million, also ahead of the rise of 1.4 million barrels analysts had been forecasting.

Supplies of distillates, including heating oil and diesel fuel, edged up 900,000 barrels to 136.9 million last week.

The figures for commercial crude oil inventories do not include the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which currently holds crude oil of about 700 million barrels.