Crude inventories were flat last, while gasoline stockpiles rose much more than expected, according to government data released Wednesday.
For the week ended Nov. 7 crude-oil inventories remained at 311.9 million barrels, which is 2 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Analysts had expected a boost of 1.1 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill (nyse: MHP - news - people ) Cos.
It was the second consecutive week in which inventory was flat.
Gasoline inventories rose by 2 million barrels, or 1 percent, to 198.1 million barrels, which is 0.9 percent below year-ago levels. Analysts expected stockpiles of the motor fuel to rise by 850,000 barrels.
Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Nov. 7 was 1.9 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging nearly 9.1 million barrels a day.
At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 84.6 percent of total capacity on average, a drop of 0.7 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity slip 0.2 percentage point to 85.1 percent.
