U.S. crude oil inventories fell last week as refining activity picked up ahead of the busy summer driving season, even as the United States continued to release barrels from its strategic reserve. Crude inventories (USOILC=ECI) fell by 3.4 million barrels in the week to May 13 to 420.8 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts forecast in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 million-barrel rise. The drop came even though the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell by 5 million barrels to 538 million barrels, its lowest since November of 1987. Refining activity picked up in the most recent week, in response to tight product inventories and near-record exports that have forced diesel […]