EIA: U.S. crude supplies grow by 1.3 million barrels to 337.6 million barrels, down 6.4% year-over-year, while gasoline supplies drop by 4.1 million barrels to 209.6 million barrels, down 3.9% year-ago levels

Rachel Carter

NEW YORK , October 14, 2011 (Associated Press) – The nation's crude oil supplies increased last week, the government said Wednesday.

Crude supplies rose by 1.3 million barrels, or 0.4 percent, to 337.6 million barrels, which is 6.4 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts expected a decline of 300,000 barrels for the week ended Oct. 7, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies fell by 4.1 million barrels, or 1.9 percent, to 209.6 million barrels. That's 3.9 percent below year-ago levels. Analysts expected gasoline supplies to rise by 100,000 barrels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Oct. 7 was 0.7 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging 8.9 million barrels a day.

U.S. refineries ran at 84.2 percent of total capacity on average, 3.5 percentage points down from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to decrease to 87.07 percent.

Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, dropped by 2.9 million barrels to 154 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to decline by 600,000 barrels.

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