Oil stockpiles rise in week

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WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- U.S. crude oil inventories rose in the week that ended Friday for the sixth consecutive weekly buildup, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

The agency said crude oil inventories rose by 2.8 million barrels in the week to 375.9 million barrels, keeping supplies in the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.

Supplies of distillate fuels, which include home heating oil, fell by 1.9 million barrels to 124 million barrels. Stockpiles of gasoline dropped 2 million barrels to 209.7 million barrels in the current week.

Inventories of finished gasoline and blending components both fell, the agency said.

The EIA said the national average price of regular gasoline fell for the fourth consecutive week with the price dropping 4 cents in the current week to a national retail average of $3.83 per gallon on April 30.

The average price of gasoline prices came in $0.133 under the same week of 2011.