Crude Stockpiles Plunge As Summer Driving Gears Up

ERNEST SCHEYDER

NEW YORK (AP) — Crude oil inventories plunged last week as Americans took to the road for the busy summer driving season, the government said Wednesday.

Crude inventories dropped by 4.4 million barrels, or 1.2 percent, to 361.6 million barrels, which is 19.9 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts had expected a boost of 800,000 barrels for the week ended June 5, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline inventories slipped by 1.6 million barrels, or 0.8 percent, to 201.6 million barrels, which is even with year-ago levels. Analysts expected stockpiles of the motor fuel to rise by 1.1 million barrels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended June 5 was 0.4 percent higher than a year earlier, averaging 9.2 million barrels a day. Last year at this time, gasoline was about $4 per gallon, far higher than today.

At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 85.9 percent of total capacity on average, a drop of 0.4 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to rise to 86.6 percent.

Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 300,000 barrels to 149.7 million barrels for the week ended June 5. Analysts expected distillate stocks to jump 1.1 million barrels.

Crude rose $1.49 to $71.50 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.