EIA Energy Stocks Report [3/10/2010]

03/10 09:59 CST Crude oil stockpiles climb by 1.4 million barrels

Crude oil stockpiles climb by 1.4 million barrels

By DEBORAH JIAN LEE
AP Energy Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Crude inventories rose less than expected last week, while
gasoline supplies dropped, the government said Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels, or 0.4 percent, to 343 million
barrels, which is 3.7 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department’s
Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts had expected a build of 2.1 million barrels for the week ended March
5, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill
Cos.

Gasoline inventories fell by 2.9 million barrels, or 1.3 percent, to 229
million barrels. That decline was steeper than analysts had forecast and
brought stockpiles 6.1 percent above year-ago levels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended March 5 was half a percent higher
than a year earlier, averaging nearly 8.9 million barrels a day.

At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 80.7 percent of total capacity on
average, a drop of 1.2 percent from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity
to build to 82 percent.

Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by
fell by 2.2 million barrels to 149.6 million barrels for the week ended March
5. Analysts expected distillate stocks to drop by 950,000 barrels.