July reformulated gasoline rose 9.65 cents, to $3.3965/gallon.

In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said that crude stocks were down 5.4 million barrels for the week ended May 16. Analysts had been expecting a rise of about 900,000 barrels.

“The sharp decline was due to a substantial decline in imports,” said Chris Lafakis, of Moody’s Economy.com. Crude imports averaged 9.2 million barrels per day last week, down 696,000 barrels per day from a week earlier, the EIA said.

“If the bulls were looking for something to justify higher prices, this report should do it,” said James Williams, of WTRG Economics. “Crude imports were down and are 1.6 million barrels below the same week last year.”

Source: Where Will Crude’s Run End?

June reformulated gasoline gained a penny, to $3.13/gallon.

The Energy Information Administration released its weekly inventory report yesterday, and it showed crude supplies climbing for the third straight week, up 5.7 million barrels for the week ended May 2. The three-week build is now nearly 12 million barrels.

Gasoline supplies rose 800,000 barrels, the EIA said, while distillate stocks were down 100,000 barrels. Refinery utilization fell to 85.0% of capacity from 85.4% a week earlier.

“This report is bearish, although it remains uncertain how much [it] will influence prices given the ebullient sentiment in the oil market,” wrote Chris Lafakis, of Moody’s Economy.com.

“It will be hard for the bulls to put horns on this bearish report,” said James Williams, of WTRG Economics, and he wryly suggested that “maybe we ought to call this the Goldman effect,” referring to Goldman Sachs’ projection for a $150-200/barrel oil price in the near future.