INSTANT VIEW: U.S. crude stockpiles jump on imports

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. inventories of crude oil and refined products rose by more than expected last week amid an uptick in imports and refinery output, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange slumped more than $3 after the report.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM EIA REPORT (In million barrels):

- Crude +6.7 (forecast +0.9)

- Distillate +1.8 (forecast +1.0)

- Gasoline +3.3 (forecast +0.8)

ANALYST COMMENTS

TIM EVANS, ENERGY ANALYST, CITI FUTURES PERSPECTIVE, NEW YORK:

"The big surprise in this week's report was a sharp 6.7 million barrel jump in crude stocks on sharply higher crude oil imports of 10.5 million barrels per day. Of this build, 4 mln barrels was squeezed into the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for the NYMEX futures, pushing inventories there to a new all-time high of 32.2 mln barrels."