Crude futures dipped Wednesday following a U.S. government report that showed rising U.S. inventories of oil and gasoline.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery fell 47 cents to $51.60 a barrel in morning trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Unleaded gas fell more than 1 1/2 cents to $1.494 a gallon. Heating oil was down nearly a cent at $1.444 a gallon. On London’s International Petroleum Exchange, June Brent futures eased 60 cents to $50.83 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Department released data that showed domestic inventories of crude grew by 2.7 million barrels last week to 329.7 million barrels, or 10 percent above year ago levels.