U.S. crude stocks rose last week, while fuel inventories fell sharply, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, as back-to-back major hurricanes drove gasoline demand to nearly a three-year high.
Crude inventories rose by 5.8 million barrels to 422.7 million barrels in the week ended October 4, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2 million-barrel rise.
Together, gasoline and distillate fuels declined by some 9.42 million barrels last week. Analysts said that draw was primarily due to stockpiling ahead of Hurricane Milton, which is slated to hit Florida as a major storm on Wednesday.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 1.2 million barrels last week, the EIA said.
“Messy data because of the hurricane, but stronger product demand than expected,” said Josh Young, chief investment officer at Bison Interests.
“Probably all of the main EIA weekly inventory numbers are affected by the hurricane. Crude higher due to lower exports, products lower due to stockpiling at gas stations,” he said.
Oil futures pared some losses following the report. Global Brent futures were trading at $76.24 a barrel, down 92 cents at 11:09 a.m. EDT (1509 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were trading at $72.83 a barrel, off 74 cents.
Refinery crude runs fell by 101,000 barrels per day, according to the EIA. Meanwhile, refinery utilization rates were off by 0.9 percentage points to 86.7 per cent in the week, marking the fifth straight week of declines.
Total product supplied, a proxy for demand, jumped by 1.34 million barrels per day last week to 21.19 million bpd, driving down fuel inventories.
U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 6.3 million barrels in the week to 214.9 million barrels, their lowest level since September 2023, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.1 million-barrel draw.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 3.1 million barrels in the week to 118.5 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.9 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
Gasoline product supplied was up by 1.13 million bpd to 9.65 million bpd, the biggest week-over-week increase since February 2001. Distillate demand climbed by 394,000 bpd to 4 million bpd, last week.
Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 305,000 barrels per day, EIA said. Crude exports were down by 84,000 bpd to 9.79 million bpd.
“I think this report was bullish, driven by a large drop in overall oil inventories. Definitely, it might have been highly influenced by Hurricane Milton, which supported implied demand for gasoline,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst with UBS.