The price of oil remained slightly lower Wednesday after the government said the nation's supplies of crude expanded last week.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery was down 17 cents to $38.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil had traded down 21 cents just prior to the report's release.
In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said crude stocks rose by 500,000 barrels last week. Analysts were looking for a drop of 1.75 million barrels, according according a survey by oil research firm Platts.
Distillates, used to make heating oil and diesel fuel, expanded by 700,000 barrels while gasoline supplies added 800,000 barrels. Analysts were expecting distillate supplies to grow by 1.3 million barrels and gasoline stockpiles to have increased by 1.75 million barrels.
Wednesday's advance comes at the end of a volatile year. The global economic slowdown has sapped demand for gasoline and other petroleum products which has driven the price of oil is down nearly 61% year to date.
