API Data show Gasoline Supply Rise 4.31 mb include Diesel and Heating Oil

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Gasoline supplies rose 4.31 million barrels, the API data showed. They are projected to increase 2.35 million barrels in the government report, according to the survey. Distillate inventories, a category that includes diesel and heating oil, fell 900,000 barrels compared with an estimate for a 1.38 million barrel gain.

The API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy Department for its weekly survey. The Energy Department is scheduled to release its inventory report at 11 a.m. in Washington, a day later than usual because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 16.

U.S. drivers bought 8.37 million barrels a day of gasoline in the week ended Jan. 13, up from 8.044 million a week earlier that was the lowest level in more than seven years, according to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse report yesterday. The company’s data goes back to July 2004.

‘‘There are signs we are bottoming,” said Phil Flynn, vice president of research at PFGBest in Chicago, in an e-mail. “Gas demand bounced a bit,” he said, citing the MasterCard report. “Still, don’t look for a demand surge. It’s very modest.”

Prices slipped yesterday after President Barack Obama denied a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline that may have reduced inventories by carrying crude from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The company said it will refile a revised route to avoid an environmentally sensitive area in Nebraska. The 1,661-mile (2,673-kilometer) project planned to transport 700,000 barrels of crude a day and cross six U.S. states.