U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week, climbing to their highest since 2017 amid a release from the national emergency reserve, while gasoline inventories decreased more than forecast, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories rose by 5.4 million barrels in the last week, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 800,000 barrels. Nearly 1.8 million barrels was added to supply through the release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The U.S. Energy Department said in February it was offering up to 6 million barrels of sweet crude oil for delivery in May from the SPR in a sale mandated by a previous law to raise funds to modernize the facility. Overall crude inventories, not including the […]