U.S. week to May 11 crude stocks up 2.4 mln barrels to 321.2 mln -- DOE

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Crude oil stocks rose 2.4 mln barrels, or 0.7 pct, to 321.2 mln in the week ended May 11 from the previous week, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

	    The DOE data compares with an estimate released yesterday by the American petroleum Institute, a private trade association, that crude oil stocks rose 

1.96 mln barrels to 322.46 mln.

	    Year-on-year, crude oil stocks were up 19.3 mln barrels, the DOE said. The API estimated that crude oil stocks were up 17.59 mln barrels year-on-year.

	    Crude oil imports fell 379,000 barrels to 9.3 mln barrels a day, according to DOE. The API estimated that crude oil imports rose by 458,000 bpd to 9.5 mln bpd.

	    Gasoline stocks rose 4.1 mln barrels to 204.1 mln, DOE said. The API estimated gasoline stocks rose 2.3 mln barrels to 203.26 mln barrels.

	    The government said gasoline stocks were down 4.0 mln barrels year-on-year. This compares with the API's estimate of a 1.9 mln barrel rise in gasoline stocks.

	    Distillate fuel stocks fell 200,000 barrels to 102.9 mln for the week, the department said, compared with the API's estimate of a 2.0 mln barrel fall to 102.59 mln. 

	    Distillate fuel stocks rose 1.1 mln barrels year-on-year compared with the API's estimate of a 4.2 mln barrel rise.

	    Oil refineries operated at 93.7 pct of capacity, down from 95.8 pct in the previous week, said the DOE. According to the API, refineries operated at a 93.5 pct rate, down from 95.6 in the previous week.

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