U.S. crude inventories rose last week to a record high for the 12th straight week, while gasoline stocks fell more than four times than expected as demand grew for the motor fuel, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday. Crude inventories rose 4.8 million barrels to 471.4 million in the week to March 27, compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 4.2 million barrels. Gasoline stocks fell 4.3 million barrels, far more than analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 943,000-barrel drop. Gasoline demand over the past four weeks was up 1.9 percent from a year ago. “The large decline in gasoline inventories is notable, as is the four-week average demand of 9 million barrels per day, which is strong,” said John Kilduff, partner, Again Capital LLC in New York. “Clearly, there is a demand response underway by consumers to […]