Crude oil prices hesitated today after the Energy Information Administration reported a U.S. oil inventory build of 7.5 million barrels for the first week of February. The report came a day after the American Petroleum Institute estimated an inventory build of 6 million barrels . Analysts had expected a build of 2.93 million barrels for the period, after the EIA reported an inventory increase of 3.4 million barrels for the prior week. Refineries processed 16 million bpd last week, the EIA said, and produced 9.2 million bpd of gasoline and 4.8 million bpd of distillate fuel. This compares with a processing rate of 16 million bpd a week earlier, gasoline production of 9.9 million bpd, and distillate fuel production of 5 million bpd. Gasoline inventories last week shed a modest 100,000 barrels, after a draw of the same size for the previous week. Distillate inventories fell by 2 million […]