Crude-oil futures fell Tuesday for the first session in five, pulling back from their highest level in more than five months on expectations that U.S. crude inventories have risen from their 19-year high last week. The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release the latest U.S. petroleum inventories Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by Platts expect a buildup of 2.2 million barrels. Oil had ended at the highest level since Nov. 24 on Monday on economic recovery hopes. "While economic indicators are continuing to look less bad, oil fundamentals are still looking far from rosy," said Nimit Khamar, an analyst at Sucden Financial Research, in a note. "The fact remains there is still a large amount of crude inventories around and oil demand is continuing to fall." Crude for June delivery was last down 35 cents, or 0.6%, to $54.12 a barrel in North American electronic trading. It fell 1.4% to $53.70 earlier. The EIA last week reported that crude inventories stood at 374.7 million barrels in the week ended April 24, the highest level since September 1990. The agency also reported that U.S. refineries reduced their production in the face of weak demand. For Wednesday's report, analysts surveyed by Platts also expect a buildup of 750,000 barrels in gasoline inventories and a 690,000 increase in distillate inventories, which include heating oil and diesel. In other energy trading, June reformulated gasoline rose slightly to $1.5901 a gallon and June heating oil lost 1.14 cents, or 0.83%, to $1.4231 a gallon. Natural gas for June delivery slid 7.2 cents, or 1.9%, to $3.652 per million British thermal units.

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