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The price of crude oil climbed slightly higher today – up 45 cents to end the trading day at $114.98 – based largely on a U.S. government report which showed a larger than expected weekly drop in gasoline stockpiles.

According to an article published on CNNMoney.com, gasoline inventories fell by over 6.2 million barrels last week, putting the inventory level below what is average for this time of year. This data, in and of itself, wouldn’t usually pique my interest, and would be a sufficient reason to see the price of oil jump slightly.

However, in reading the CNNMoney article a little more closely, this inventory drop didn’t seem to make much sense. According to the same inventories report:

“Consumers are still driving less than they did at this time last year. Over the last four weeks, gasoline demand has averaged about 9.5 million barrels per day, which is 1.6% lower than the same period last year.”

OK, that certainly seems to be conflicting data coming out of the same report. On one hand you’ve got data showing increased gasoline consumption – i.e. falling inventories – but on the other hand you’ve got data showing continued decreased demand for gasoline.

Granted, I realize the decrease in gasoline inventories was measured over the prior week, while the gasoline demand was measured over previous four weeks. That being said, the gasoline inventory drop – which was more than double what economists were expecting – seems a bit odd considering demand for gasoline has been falling the past four weeks.

Am I the only one that doesn’t get this? Let me know your thoughts.