Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 3.4 million barrels during the week ending January 14, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 422.4 million barrels according to government data, which is 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil inventories grew by 5.27 million barrels. Crude prices were…