Crude inventories jumped last week by more than twice what was expected, while gasoline reserves dropped sharply even as demand for motor fuel remained below last year’s levels, according to government data released Wednesday.

For the week ended April 24 crude inventories rose by 4.1 million barrels, or 1.1 percent, to 374.7 million barrels, which is 18 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts had expected a boost of 1.8 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill  Cos.

Gasoline inventories slipped by 4.7 million barrels, or 2.2 percent, to 212.6 million barrels, which is even with year-ago levels. Analysts expected stockpiles of the motor fuel to rise by 900,000 barrels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended April 24 was 0.5 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging 9.1 million barrels a day.

At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 82.7 percent of total capacity on average, a drop of 0.7 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to rise to 83.7 percent.

Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.8 million barrels to 144.1 million barrels for the week ended April 24. Analysts expected distillate stocks to jump 1.3 million barrels.

Benchmark crude rose 98 cents to $50.90 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -AP