U.S. Crude Oil Supplies Rose Last Week, API Report Shows

Crude oil inventories rose 4.91 million barrels last week to 361 million, the American Petroleum Institute said today.

Gasoline stockpiles fell 2.09 million barrels to 210.6 million, the report showed.

The Energy Department is scheduled to release its inventory report tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. inWashington.

Analysts expect the government report to show stockpiles of crude oil increased over the period. Supplies probably advanced 1.7 million barrels, according to the median of 13 responses in a Bloomberg News survey. Gasoline inventories fell 1 million barrels, the survey showed.

API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy Department for its weekly survey.

Crude oil for June delivery fell 50 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $111.78 a barrel at 4:33 p.m. in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $112.10 before release of the report at 4:30 p.m.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/u-s-crude-oil-supplies-increased-last-week-api-report-shows.html)