US crude oil supplies climb modestly

U.S. crude oil inventories rose in the week that ended Friday, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday in a release. Crude oil stockpiles increased by 3 million barrels during the week. At 362 million barrels, supplies are near the upper limit of the average range on a seasonal basis. The agency said supplies of motor grade gasoline fell by 600,000 barrels to 217.8 million barrels and are in the upper half of the average range for this time of year. Supplies of distillate fuels, which include home heating oil, fell by 300,000 barrels to 129 million barrels. Inventories of distillate fuels are near the lower limit of the average range for this time of year. The national average price of unleaded gasoline rose by 0.2 cents in the week to $3.552 per gallon, putting the price of gasoline 22.4 cents below the same week of 2012.