U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week as refineries ramped up processing while gasoline inventories slumped as demand rose, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
After six straight weeks of builds, crude inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels to 447 million barrels in the week ended March 8, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel rise.
Gasoline stocks fell by 5.7 million barrels to 234.1 million barrels the EIA said, nearly triple expectations for a 1.9 million-barrel draw. That marked the sixth straight week of draws.
Stocks of the motor fuel at the U.S. Gulf Coast fell to their lowest since November 2022.
“The data suggests the oil market remains undersupplied … The gasoline supply numbers are of concern because we are headed to the summer driving season,” said Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS.
Finished motor gasoline supplied, a proxy for demand, edged up 30,000 barrels per day to more than 9 million bpd for the first time this year.
Refinery crude runs rose by 390,000 bpd and utilization rates gained 1.9 percentage points in the week to 86.8 per cent of total capacity in the week.
Oil futures extended their gains after the report.
U.S. gasoline futures led the gains, rising 2.7 per cent to $2.7 per gallon by 12:27 p.m. ET (16:27 GMT), the highest since September.
U.S. crude was up $1.75, or 2.3 per cent, at $79.32 per barrel and Brent rose $1.73, or 2.1 per cent, to $83.65 a barrel.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. futures also fell in the week, slipping by 220,000 barrels.
Domestic crude production fell by 100,000 bpd to 13.1 million bpd, slipping another week lower from its record 13.3 million bpd in February.
Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 241,000 bpd to 2.3 million bpd, while crude imports alone dropped 1.7 million bpd to 5.5 million bpd, the lowest since March 2023.
Meanwhile, distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 888,000 barrels in the week to 117.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 150,000-barrel drop, the data showed.