U.S. crude stockpilesrose unexpectedly last week, driven largely by a jump in imports, while fuel inventories also increased, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 3.7 million barrels to 459.7 million barrels in the week ended June 7, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1 million-barrel draw.

The surprise build came as U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI rose by 2.56 million barrels per day (bpd), EIA said, hitting the highest level since August 2019.

Commercial crude imports were the most since August 2018, with West Coast imports at their strongest level since 2022.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude futures pared gains following the report.

Brent LCOc1 was trading at $82.33 a barrel, up about 43 cents, at 1454 GMT, while WTI CLc1 was trading at $78.3 up about 40 cents. Both contracts had been up more than a dollar earlier in the day.

U.S. crude exports declined by 1.31 million bpd to 3.19 million bpd last week, the EIA said.

“There is a larger picture here where the US tends to import heavier crude oil and export the more lighter crude. So that’s part of the story here,” said Tim Evans, an independent energy analyst.

Refinery crude runs fell by 97,000 bpd inthe week ended June 7, while refinery utilization rates USOIRU=ECI fell by 0.4 percentage points in the week to 95%.

U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 2.6 million barrels in the week to 233.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.9 million-barrel build.​

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 0.9 million barrels in the week to 123.4 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.6 million-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.6 million barrels last week, the EIA said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver and Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)