U.S. crude oil inventories increases as prices edge up

HOUSTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil inventories increased last week ending April 20, and the refining sector fell 328,000 barrels per day from the previous week's average, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday.

According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, of the week ending April 20 increased by 2.2 million barrels from the previous week.

At 429.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are in the lower half of the average range for this time of the year.

Total products supplied over the past four-week period averaged over 20.4 million barrels per day, up by 4.3 percent from the same period last year.

Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.4 million barrels per day, up 1.3 percent from the same period last year.

Oil prices settled slightly higher on Wednesday even though EIA data showed a surprise increase in the crude stockpiles. The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery rose 0.35 U.S. dollars to settle at 68.05 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June delivery added 0.14 dollars to close at 74.00 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem