WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. commercial crude oil inventories plunged more than expected last week, in the eighth consecutive weekly decline, while supplies of gasoline and distillates edged up, the Energy Department reported Wednesday in its weekly inventory survey.
In the week ended Jan. 4, the nation's commercial crude oil inventories dropped by 6.8 million barrels to 2.828 million, much steeper than the 80,000-barrel decline expected by analysts.
Gasoline stockpiles, however, rose by 5.3 million barrels last week to 213.1 million, while analysts had been forecasting gasoline supplies to grow by only 1.6 million barrels.
Meanwhile, supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, increased by 1.5 million barrels to 128.7 million, defying the 300,000-barrel decline expected by analysts for last week.
The report also showed that U.S. refinery utilization rose by 1.9 percentage points to 91.3 percent of capacity last week, which was much bigger than the 0.1 of a percentage point gain expected by analysts.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for February delivery rose to more than 100 U.S. dollars a barrel for the first time last week.
In the week ended Jan. 4, the nation's commercial crude oil inventories dropped by 6.8 million barrels to 2.828 million, much steeper than the 80,000-barrel decline expected by analysts.
Gasoline stockpiles, however, rose by 5.3 million barrels last week to 213.1 million, while analysts had been forecasting gasoline supplies to grow by only 1.6 million barrels.
Meanwhile, supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, increased by 1.5 million barrels to 128.7 million, defying the 300,000-barrel decline expected by analysts for last week.
The report also showed that U.S. refinery utilization rose by 1.9 percentage points to 91.3 percent of capacity last week, which was much bigger than the 0.1 of a percentage point gain expected by analysts.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for February delivery rose to more than 100 U.S. dollars a barrel for the first time last week.
