Crude oil slips on higher supplies

The price for a barrel of crude oil dropped overnight but held at more than $95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. West Texas Intermediate crude oil in New York shed 33 cents to $95.55 after the Energy Information Administration said inventories of crude oil rose by 2.5 million barrels in the week to 393.8 million. Stockpiles of motor gasoline rose by 2.7 million barrels to 221.5 million in the week that ended Saturday. Supplies of distillate fuels, including heating oil, fell by 1.2 million barrels to 122.1 million. On the NYMEX exchange, reformulated blendstock gasoline added 0.22 cents to $2.8123 a gallon. Home heating oil lost 0.28 cents to $2.8924 a gallon. Natural gas lost 3.9 cents to $3.738 per million British thermal units. At the pump, the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $3.632, down from Wednesday's $3.634, AAA Fuel Gauge report said. The Energy Information Administration joined the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries with a projection of slightly lower demand for 2013. The American Petroleum Institute, in a Tuesday report, said oil supplies were building after last week's decline.