WASHINGTON, Nov 15, 2007 (AP) -- U.S. oil supplies grew unexpectedly last week after falling for three-straight periods, according to government data published Thursday that sent oil prices falling.

For the week ending Nov. 9, crude oil inventories rose by 2.8 million barrels, or 0.9 percent, to 314.7 million barrels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report, which was delayed a day due to the Veterans Day holiday.

Oil stockpiles, which are still 6.9 percent below year-ago levels, were forecast to have fallen by 300,000 barrels last week, according to analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.

Stockpiles of gasoline also inched upward by 700,000 barrels, or 0.4 percent, to 195 million barrels, confounding analysts' estimates calling for inventories of the motor fuel to fall by 100,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories are 4.6 percent below year-ago levels.

At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 87.7 percent of total capacity on average, up 1.5 percentage points. Analysts had forecast a rise of 0.7 percentage points.

Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2 million barrels to 133.4 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 9. Analysts expected a drop of 300,000 barrels.

At the pump, gas prices were flat overnight at $3.11 a for regular-grade gasoline, well above the year-ago average of $2.23 per gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Retail gas prices, which have jumped about 35 cents over the past month, are still down from their May 24 peak of $3.23 per gallon.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $1.70 to $92.39 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude prices traded at a record high of $98.62 last week.