NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude oil and gasoline futures rose Thursday after government data showed a surprisingly big drop in gasoline inventories as refineries cut production to the lowest level in more than a year. Gasoline inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 9, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts polled by Platts had expected a modest build-up. Gasoline production fell to 8.45 million barrels a day last week, the lowest level since last September. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for November delivery rose 66 cents, or 0.9%, to $75.84 a barrel, after rising to a new one-year high of $76.27. November reformulated gasoline rose 3.85 cents, or 2.1%, to $1.8961 a gallon. "This time of the year is the low-demand period, so refineries often take the opportunity to do maintenance," said James Williams, an economist at energy research firm WTRG Economics. In the weekly update, the EIA also reported a build-up of 400,000 barrels in crude inventories. Refineries used less crude oil in their fuel production, with crude input down 510,000 barrels a day from a week ago. That put refinery utilization rate at 80.9%, the lowest level since April. Crude imports fell 367,000 barrels from a week ago. Inventories at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for Nymex crude futures, rose 400,000 barrels to 25.5 million. Distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil fell 1.1 million barrels. The EIA data also showed petroleum demand still remained week in the biggest consuming country, with gasoline demand falling to 9.26 million barrels a day, down slightly from a week ago. "While on the surface [the report] looks bullish, we feel the fundamentals of crude do not support these prices," said Tariq Zahir, managing member of futures trading firm Tyche Capital Advisors. "The recent range of $65 to $75 has been broken but mainly due to the weak U.S. dollar and strong equity markets." In currencies trading, the dollar fell further against its major rivals. The dollar index (DXY 75.40, -0.15, -0.20%) slid 0.2% to 75.394. A weaker dollar tends to push up dollar-denominated commodities prices. The EIA's petroleum report came a day later than usual because of the Columbus Day holiday in the U.S. on Monday. Late Wednesday, the industry group the American Petroleum Institute said crude oil inventories declined by 172,000 barrels last week. Motor gasoline stockpiles dropped by 2.66 million barrels, while distillate inventories rose by 219,000 barrels, the API also reported. The API and the EIA use different methodologies to calculate petroleum stockpiles. In other energy trading, natural gas erased gains after data showed U.S. inventories rose last week more than expected. Natural gas inventories rose 58 billion cubic feet in the week ended Oct. 9, the EIA reported Thursday. Analysts polled by Platts expected an injection between 52 billion cubic feet and 56 billion cubic feet. At 3,716 billion cubic feet, stocks were 450 billion cubic feet higher than last year at this time and 474 billion cubic feet above the five-year average. November natural-gas futures fell 0.2% to $4.426 per million British thermal units. Also in energy trading, November heating oil gained 2.42 cents, or 1.3%, to $1.9669 a gallon. The United States Oil Fund (USO 39.32, +0.71, +1.84%) gained 1%, and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG 11.12, +0.12, +1.09%) added 0.1%.

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