The American Petroleum Institute reported late Wednesday that U.S. crude supplies rose by 8.7 million barrels for the week ended May 22, according to sources. The API data, which were released a day later than usual because of Monday's Memorial Day holiday, also reportedly showed gasoline stockpiles edged up by 1.1 million barrels, while distillate inventories climbed by 6.9 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., storage hub fell by 3.4 million barrels for the week, sources said. Inventory data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Thursday. The EIA data are expected to show crude inventories fell by 1.2 million barrels last week, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. They also forecast a supply decline of 1 million barrels for gasoline and a stockpile increase of 2.5 million barrels for distillates. July West Texas Intermediate crude was at $31.83 a barrel in electronic trading. It was down from its settlement at $32.81 Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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