Oil futures stayed close to the US$47 mark Thursday, with prices held down by U.S. petroleum inventory data showing more strong growth in crude stocks. The market was sobered by the U.S. Department of Energy figures that revealed a build of 334 million barrels in the week ending May 13 from the previous week _ the 13th increase in the past 14 weeks _ up 34 million barrels from a year ago. The total crude inventory figure was the highest since May 1999, Dow Jones Newswires said. After dipping briefly below US$47 overnight, light, sweet crude for June was up 5 cents in Europe by late morning at US$47.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had fallen US$1.72 on Wednesday following the release of the stocks report. The overall inventory report was mixed, however, with oil products building at a slower clip than anticipated. Gasoline stocks rose by 1.1 million barrels to 214.8 million barrels, heating oil stocks rose by 200,000 barrels to 38.1 million. Meanwhile, distillates fell 200,000 barrels to 103.8 million. Unleaded gasoline was down by less then half a cent at US$1.4115 a gallon (3.8 liters), while heating oil was up by less then a cent at US$1.3633 a gallon. "The market is well supplied, we are not in agreement with putting more barrels on the market," Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said Wednesday.
