Oil supplies up for 7th week straight

U.S. crude oil inventories rose in the week that ended Friday for the seventh consecutive weekly buildup, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. The agency said crude oil inventories rose by 3.7 million barrels in the week to 379.5 million barrels, keeping supplies in the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Supplies of distillate fuels, which include home heating oil, fell by 3.3 million barrels to 120.8 million barrels, dropping for the second consecutive week. Stockpiles of gasoline dropped 2.6 million barrels to 207.1 million barrels in the current week. Inventories of finished gasoline and blending components both fell, the agency said. The EIA said the national average price of regular gasoline fell for the fifth consecutive week with the price dropping 4 cents in the current week to a national retail average of $3.79 per gallon on May 7. The average price of gasoline prices came in 17.5 cents under the same week of 2011.