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(01-06) 07:38 PST NEW YORK, (AP) –

Crude inventories and gasoline supplies rose last week, the government said Wednesday.

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Crude inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels, or 0.4 percent, to 327.3 million barrels, which is half a percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts had expected a drop of 1.6 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 1, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline inventories increased by 3.7 million barrels, or 1.7 percent, to 219.7 million barrels. That was above analyst expectations and 2.9 percent above year-ago levels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Jan. 1 was 0.3 percent higher than a year earlier, averaging nearly 9 million barrels a day.

At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 79.9 percent of total capacity on average, a drop of 0.4 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to build to 81.05 percent.

Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 300,000 barrels to 159 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 1. Analysts expected distillate stocks to drop by 1.8 million barrels.

Crude prices fell 72 cents to $81.05 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.