US energy reserves slide after BP problems - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US energy inventories slid last week, reflecting strong summer demand and a partial shutdown of operations at a giant Alaskan oil field run by BP, the
Department of Energy' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Department of Energy said.

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The DoE's latest weekly summary showed that crude oil inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels to 331 million barrels in the week ended August 11.
That was more than the drop of 1.3 million barrels forecast by oil analysts. But the DoE said that crude levels "remain well above the upper end of the average range for this time of year".
Gasoline inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels last week, and at 205.4 million barrels "are in the lower half of the average range", the DoE said.
It was a larger drop than the forecast decline of 1.8 million, highlighting robust demand for motor fuel as many Americans take to the roads for summer vacations.
But inventories of distillate fuel products such as diesel and heating oil increased by 800,000 barrels to 133.2 million barrels, the DoE said.
US oil production was hit in the past week by a pipeline leak discovered at the BP-managed Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska. It is America's largest oil field and when fully operational, provides 8.0 percent of daily US oil output.
After initially scrambling to shut down the entire field, the British energy giant now plans to only halve its normal production to take output down to 200,000 barrels a day.