Oil prices dropped this evening after the US government said crude supplies grew by much more than expected last week.
US crude fell $2.13 to $91.04 a barrel, while Brent crude fell $1.32 to $109.60 in London.
The Department of Energy reported an increase of 4.7 million barrels in US storage tanks last week. Analysts expected supplies to grow by only 200,000 barrels.
For most of the year oil supplies fell in the US, as drivers and businesses burned less fuel and refineries cut their inventories to save money. Last week crude oil imports increased as operations at many refineries picked up again following seasonal maintenance.
Refineries operated at nearly 85% capacity last week, up almost two percentage points in a week. Oil and petrol demand is still down in the US, when compared with a year ago, the government said.
