Crude prices traded above 80 U.S. dollars a barrel Wednesday despite a surprised increase in U.S. inventories.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose 77 cents to settle at 80.30 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, November Brent crude fell 19 cents to settle at 77.43 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

In its weekly inventory report, the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that crude inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels during the week ended Sept. 21. Analysts had expected a 1.8 million-barrel decline.

Gasoline inventories rose by 600,000 barrels last week, three times the 200,000-barrel increase analysts had expected.

Refinery utilization plunged by 2.7 percentage points to 86.9 percent of capacity. Analysts had expected an 0.6 percentage point decline.

Crude prices declined after the report but rose higher as investors saw it as a buying opportunity.