The nation's crude oil and gasoline supplies shrank last week, the government said Wednesday. Crude supplies fell by 10.6 million barrels, or 3.2 percent, to 323.6 million barrels, which is 5 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. Analysts expected a decline of 2.25 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 16, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Gasoline supplies fell by 400,000 barrels, or 0.2 percent, to 218.4 million barrels. Analysts expected gasoline inventories to increase by 1.75 million barrels. Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Dec. 16 was 4.7 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging 8.7 million barrels a day. U.S. refineries ran at 84.9 percent of total capacity on average, down 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to rise to 85.4 percent. Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, declined by 2.4 million barrels to 139.1 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to drop by 600,000 barrels. The price of benchmark oil rose $1.59 to $98.83 per barrel in New York.

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