Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 3.6 million barrels during the week ending January 21, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Thursday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 426 million barrels according to government data, which is still 2% 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 3.04 million barrels. Crude prices…