Crude oil futures remained under pressure on Wednesday’s trading session after news of increase oil inventories as per latest report. However bullish stock markets, depreciating dollar and escalating crisis in Libya provided support for the oil contract.

As per latest data of Energy Information Administration crude oil investors grew by 2 million barrels for the week ended April 1^st, 2011. The figures surpassed the expectation of most analysts who projected the increase of 1.3 million barrels for the week.

Crude oil futures contract for May delivery slipped 0.2 percent or $0.23 to $108.10 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract reached its high of $109.15 per barrel earlier. According to most analysts the correction was overdue and the decline is just a breather.

London’s Brent oil crossed the level of $122 per barrel today however the future contract for May delivery declined 0.4 percent or $0.51 to $121.71 per barrel on ICE Futures Exchange. The contract touched the high of $123.37 per barrel in prior trading sessions.

Analysts from JBC commented in their report, “The Libyan civil war is the single greatest issue driving crude prices at present and it is telling that (Brent) crude prices posted gains even as the Chinese central bank hiked interest rates for the fourth time since October.”

Gasoline future contract for May delivery also dropped 0.7 percent or $0.02 to $3.18 per gallon as EIA reported the gasoline inventories decreased by 400,000 barrels for the week whereas analysts were expecting gasoline inventories to fell by 2.1 million barrels.

Heating oil future contract also declined 0.4 percent to $3.17 per gallon on NYMEX today.