On Wednesday December 29, 2011, the US government revealed that its stockpiles of crude oil rose last week. Crude oil supplies were up by 3.9 million barrels and reached 327.5 million barrels, which depict a 3.5 percent increase against that of last year records. The reports came from the Energy Information Administration.
Analysts however predicted that the oil reserves might decline by 2.3 million barrels. The prediction was made by Platts, which is the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Gasoline supplies on the other hand fell by 700,000 barrels indicating a fall by 0.3 percent to reach 217.7 million barrels. That is still 1.3 percent above the average of previous year. Analysts however had assumed a fall by 500,000 barrels.
The demand for gasoline has fallen by 5.6 percent and has averaged to 8.8 million barrels per day as against last year. The records came on December 23, the fourth week of the month.
The US refineries were at an average of 84.2 percent of their total estimated capacity, depicting a .5 percent drop from reports of the prior week. The analysts on the other hand had expected a rise by 84.8 percent.
Likewise distillates supplies including that of diesel and heating oil also increased by 1.2 million barrels to reach 140.4 million barrels. Analysts on the other hand had expected a decline by 1.2 million barrels.
Benchmark crude also witnessed a fall by $1 and was at $98.36 per barrel in New York.
The increases in supplies were a positive sign for the investors and the consumers too. The rise in crude prices to about $100 a barrel further signaled a steady development in US economy. At the gas pumps the price for unleaded gasoline was $3.254 a gallon, marking an increase by 1.1 cents; as reported by AAA.
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