U.S. crude oil inventories increase as prices climb

HOUSTON, May 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil inventories increased in the week to April 27, and the refining sector fell 60,000 barrels per day less than the previous week's average, the U.S. Energy Information Administration 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, increased by 6.2 million barrels during the week ending April 27.

At 436.0 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 20.1 million barrels per day, up by 2.7 percent from the same period last year.

Over the past four weeks, the motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.3 million barrels per day, up by 1.2 percent from the same period last year.

The distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.2 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up by 0.1 percent from the same period last year. The jet fuel product supplied is up 1.7 percent compared to the same four-week period last year.

Oil prices climbed on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar declined against most major peers. The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery added 0.68 U.S. dollar to settle at 67.93 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery increased 0.23 dollar to close at 73.36 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem