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Crude oil prices turned lower Thursday after jumping almost US$4 in the previous session following the weekly Energy Information Administration(EIA) report of a larger than expected fall in gasoline stocks.

Light Sweet Crude for May delivery fell US$1.40 to $103.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, whilst Brent Crude also dropped by over US$1 on the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) . Both products then recovered in the late afternoon to surpass previous day levels, reaching US$106.23 and US$104.35 respectively by 16:22 GMT.

The EIA announced Wednesday that gasoline stockpiles had fallen by 4.5 million barrels in the week ending March 28, twice the decline many analysts had predicted.

Falling gasoline inventory levels appear to suggest that supplies are tightening ahead of the peak summer driving season, which could in turn result in higher motor fuel prices and keep crude prices elevated.

Distillate fuel oil stocks in the EIA report dropped over 1.6 million barrels compared to the previous week, whilst stocks of residual fuel oil grew by 1.098 million barrels in the same period.

	28-Mar	+/-	21-Mar
Crude	1,674,518	1,747	1,672,771
Gasoline	224,710	-4,525	229,235
Kerosene	38,067	61	38,006
Distillate Fuel Oil	109,720	-1,629	111,349
Residual Fuel Oil	39,736	1,098	38,638

The EIA also reported that crude inventory levels had increased by almost 1.75 million barrels, much higher than experts had anticipated. Despite higher crude stocks, crude oil futures have been driven higher recently by weakness in the dollar and speculative buying by investors who believe demand overseas will keep sending the price of crude higher.