* Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
* Wednesday February 25, 2009, 4:38 pm EST
Oil gained more than $2 a barrel Wednesday, after a government report showed that while supplies of gasoline fell much more than expected, crude stockpiles continue to grow amid sluggish demand.
Light sweet crude settled $2.54 higher to $42.50 a barrel after reaching an intraday high of $42.78 earlier in the session.
Oil traded up 59 cents to $40.55 just prior to the release of the Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory report.
Stockpiles of gasoline fell by 3.4 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 20, the EIA said.
That's in the lower half of the average range for this time of year. Analysts expected a decrease of 300,000 barrels, according to a consensus estimate of industry analysts surveyed by Platts, a global energy information provider.
"The market was really impressed with the shocking gasoline number, which caused an initial bullish jump," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Alaron Trading. more...
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