Crude oil futures dropped Thursday after a government report showed that US supplies of gasoline soared last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, oil futures for March delivery fell 79 cents to end at 47.54 dollars a barrel. In London, the April Brent crude-oil futures contract shed 33 cents to settleat 45.82 dollars per barrel.

A sharp increase in gasoline inventories boosted the market's confidence. The US Department of Energy said yesterday that gasoline stockpiles rose 4.9 million barrels last week, the largest one-week jump in more than a year. Total supplies of gasoline was standing at 221.7 million barrels, the highest since 1999.

While supplies of distillate fuel, a category that covered heating oil and diesel, fell 3.1 million barrels last week to 112.5 million barrels, traders had largely looked past it because warmer weather could further reduce heating oil demand.

Supplies of gasoline would be a new focus in energy markets. Analysts and traders hoped the United States could pile up enough inventories before gasoline demand peaks between late May and early September.

Source: Xinhua