By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil inventories jumped by almost 5.5 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration announced on Wednesday.
Equally surprising was the slump in gasoline stockpiles, which fell by almost as much, or nearly 5 million barrels.
Crude oil inventories jumped by 5.458 million barrels against expectations for a build of 73,000 barrels.
Gasoline inventories declined by 4.978 million barrels against expectations for a drop of 633,000 barrels.
Distillate stocks surprisingly rose by 2.166 million barrels. The expectation had been for a decline of 667,000 barrels.
(This is a breaking story that will be updated)