国际英语新闻：Crude prices rise slightly on inventories report

NEW YORK, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Crude prices rose slightly Wednesday after a U.S. government report showed a massive increase in crude stockpiles last week.

    The Energy Department said crude inventories rose by 9.4 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 15, after a big gain in imports. The figure is much higher than the average analyst forecast for a 1.7 million-barrel increase.

    Meanwhile, gasoline inventories shrank by a larger-than-expected 6.2 million barrels to below-average levels, distillate inventories, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by less than expected.

An employee of Petron Corp, the Philippines' largest oil refiner, walks between blending fuel tanks at the Pandacan oil depot in Manila June 18, 2008. Crude prices rose slightly Wednesday after a U.S. government report showed a massive increase in crude stockpiles last week.

    Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 45 cents to 114.62 U.S. dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after rising as high as 117.03 dollars before the inventory data was released.