National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.480; Month Ago: $3.301; Year Ago: $2.491. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $3.876; Month Ago: $3.586; Year Ago: $2.727.

Futures lost as much as 1.3 percent in New York after falling 1.9 percent on Tuesday. U.S. inventories rose by 6.51 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. That would be the biggest gain since March if confirmed in government data on Wednesday. “The API data showed an inventory build, in contrast to expectations of a draw, which is weighing on the market,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS Group AG. “The Russian news doesn’t help either.” Gasoline inventories rose by 2.4 million barrels last week, the API said Tuesday, according to people familiar with the data. While the institute also reported a gain in crude stockpiles, a Bloomberg survey showed they may have shrunk by 2.4 million barrels. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release the data at 10:30 a.m. New York time on Wednesday. Click Read More below for additional information.

Labor talks at U.S. ports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico are a looming risk for retailers, manufacturers and other shippers already grappling with longer transit times and higher costs. The International Longshoremen's Association contract covering 45,000 dockworkers at three dozen ports stretching from Maine to Texas expires on Sept. 30. If there is no deal by then, the union could call a strike that would hit during the vital holiday container shipping season and labor-friendly U.S. President Joe Biden's bid for reelection. The ILA on Monday called off this week's planned start of talks with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, citing one member of that employer group's use of automation technology in violation of prior agreements.