Oil Price Edges Lower As Nation’s Supply Grows

By Bloomberg, AP and Staff Reports

Crude oil futures fell Wednesday after federal government data showed a large increase in supplies last week.

Light sweet crude for April delivery dropped 93 cents to settle at $62.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In its weekly supply report, the Energy Department said crude oil inventories rose by 4.8 million barrels last week to 339.9 million barrels, or 10 percent above year-ago levels.

However, supplies of refined products fell. Gasoline inventories are down by 900,000 barrels to 223.9 million barrels, or less than 1 percent above year-ago levels. Stocks of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, shrank by 3.9 million barrels to 127.5 million barrels, or 13 percent higher than a year ago.

Wednesday in Tulsa, many retailers raised the price of regular gasoline 10 cents to $2.39 a gallon. That came after a 5-cent increase Tuesday.

Refiners are in the turnaround season, when they shut down their plants to perform maintenance ahead of summer, which is traditionally the busiest period for gasoline production. The turnaround often causes supplies to tighten and prices to rise.

Nymex gasoline futures fell 3.69 cents to close at $1.8291 per gallon.