Oil futures remained sharply lower on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration said US crude inventories rose by 1.6 million barrels last week. Crude oil fell sharply on fears of a recession due to the continued slide in bank stocks. At 480.1 million barrels, U.S. crude inventories are about 7% above their five-year average for this time of year, the EIA said. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.1 million barrels, while distillate stocks declined by 2.5 million barrels. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal on average expected crude inventories to show a drop of 100,000 barrels, while gasoline …