Oil prices little changed as US inventories increase

Oil prices were almost flat Wednesday as a report showed U.S. inventories rose slightly last week. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday, that U. S. crude inventories increased 18,000 barrels to 394.1 million barrels for the week ended June 21. Analyst expected a drop of 1.7 million barrels. Gasoline supplies climbed 3.7 million barrels to 225.4 million barrels. The EIA report also showed that U.S. refineries operated at 90.2 percent of total capacity. Attempts by China's central bank to ease the credit crunch in China gave more relief to investors and global markets. On the economic front, U.S. real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013, lower than the second estimate of 2.4 percent and missing analysts' expectations, according to the third estimate released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department. The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, private inventory investment and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending, state and local government spending, and exports, the department said. Other data showed U.S. mortgage applications for the week ending June 21 decreased 3.0 percent from one week earlier to the lowest level since November 2011, the Mortgage Bankers Association' s weekly survey showed Wednesday. Light, sweet crude for August delivery climbed 18 cents, to settle at 95.5 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for August delivery went up 40 cents, to close at 10166 dollars a barrel.