U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by more than expected last week on strong demand from refineries, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose to multi-year highs, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.
Crude stocks fell by 2.5 million barrels to 429.9 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 12, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 313,000-barrel draw.
Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 528,000 barrels per day (bpd), while production rose 100,000 bpd to 13.3 million bpd, data showed.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for U.S. futures fell by 2.1 million barrels, the EIA said.
Benchmark U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by about 1 per cent following the report, trading at $73.37 a barrel.
“We are seeing strong demand for crude at refineries,” said Timothy Snyder, economist at consultancy Matador Economics.
Refineries were running at 92.6 per cent of total capacity, with utilization rates edging down just 0.3 percentage point in the week, while refinery crude runs rose by 135,000 bpd, the EIA said.
Gasoline stocks rose by 3.1 million barrels in the week to 248.1 million barrels, the EIA said. Analysts had forecast for a 2.2 million-barrel build.
Gasoline inventories hit their highest level since March 2022, with Gulf Coast stockpiles swelling to their most since May 2021.
Meanwhile, distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.4 million barrels in the week to 134.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 900,000-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
Distillate stocks are at their highest level since August 2021.