Crude oil stocks drop by 4.4M barrels

WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- U.S. crude oil inventories dropped by 4.4 million barrels in the week ending June 5, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.

Crude inventories fell from 366 million barrels to 361.6 million barrels, during a week, but remain above the upper boundary for the average range for this time of year, EIA said.

Gasoline inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels to 201.6 million barrels, while supplies of distillate fuels, which includes heating oil, dropped to 0.3 million barrels to 149.7 million barrels.

Gasoline stocks are now below the lower limit of the average range, the inventory report said.

Finished gasoline and gasoline blending components inventories also fell during the week, EIA reported.

Gasoline demand averaged 9.2 million barrels a day, an increase of 0.4 percent over demand in the same period a year ago. Distillate fuel demand, at 3.6 million barrels a day, is 8.4 percent below demand a year ago. The four-week rolling average demand for jet fuel is 14.3 percent below demand for the same period in 2008.