Oil prices rose more than $1 Wednesday after a U.S. petroleum inventory report showed a dip in crude and distillate stocks and a sharp rise in gasoline stocks.
Gasoline inventories rose an unexpected 4.4 million barrels to 199.8 million in the week ended Sept. 23, the U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday in its weekly petroleum stocks report. Crude inventories fell 2.4 million barrels to 305.7 million. Distillate inventories, which include heating oil, diesel and jet fuel, fell 500,000 barrels to 133.6 million.
Light sweet crude for November delivery rose $1.28 to settle at $66.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil gained more than 7 cents to settle at $2.1411 a gallon, while gasoline gained more than 17 cents to settle at $2.3393 a gallon, an increase of about 8 percent.
