U.S. crude oil stocks rise, while products draw down: EIA

(Reuters) - U.S. crude oil stocks unexpectedly rose last week, while gasoline and distillate product inventories dropped, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. U.S. crude oil futures were up 1 cent to $54.08 a barrel at 11:38 a.m. ET, leaving the benchmark just shy of the year high of $54.51 reached on Dec. 12. Gasoline stocks fell 1.6 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel rise.