Crude oil supplies tumble by 4 million barrels

Crude oil supplies fell last week, while gasoline supplies grew, the government said Wednesday.

Crude supplies dropped by 4 million barrels, or 1.1 percent, to 353.1 million barrels, which is 1.9 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts expected a decline of 1.7 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 2, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies grew by 200,000 barrels, or 0.1 percent, to 208.8 million barrels. That was 7.2 percent below year-ago levels. Analysts expected gasoline supplies to fall by 900,000 barrels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Sept. 2 was 2.9 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging nearly 9.1 million barrels a day.

U.S. refineries ran at 89 percent of total capacity on average, down 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to drop to 88.1 percent.

Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 700,000 barrels to 156.8 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to increase by 600,000 barrels.

Benchmark oil rose 56 cents to $89.90 per barrel in New York.