U.S. crude oil inventories rose much more than expected last week, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The administration stated that crude oil inventories rose by 6.9 million barrels during the week ending March 20, after rising by 6.2 million barrels in the previous week, while analysts had expected inventories to rise by 500,000 barrels.
With this increase, total U.S. crude oil inventories reached 456.2 million barrels, approximately 0.1 percent higher than the average inventory over the past five years at this time of year.
The administration stated that inventories of refined petroleum products, which include heating oil and diesel (gas oil), rose by 3 million barrels, remaining approximately 0.4 percent below their five-year average for this time of year.
In contrast, gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.6 million barrels last week, but are still about 3 percent higher than the average stockpile over the past five years.
