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Oil prices dip as U.S. crude inventories increase

NEW YORK, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices fell below 77 dollars per barrel on Wednesday as a report showed U.S. crude inventories rose more than expected. Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell 25 cents to settle at 76.98 dollars a barrel on the New Yor

NEW YORK, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices fell below 77 dollars per barrel on Wednesday as a report showed U.S. crude inventories rose more than expected.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell 25 cents to settle at 76.98 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent crude for March delivery fell 23 cents dollars to 75.83 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories in the week to January 29 increased by 2.3 million barrels from the previous week, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday. Analysts have forecasted a much smaller increase of 200,000 barrels.

At 329.0 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.

Refineries operated at 77.7 percent of their operable capacity last week, the lowest level since 1990 barring hurricane disruptions. Gasoline production decreased, averaging 8.6 million barrels per day.

The national average retail regular gasoline price decreased for the third week in a row to 266.1 cents per gallon on February 1, 2010, 4.4 cents per gallon less than last week.

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