U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories rose last week to their highest levels since June 2021, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, as demand remained weak.

Crude inventories climbed 4.1 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 27 to 452.7 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a rise of 0.4 million barrels.

That marked the sixth consecutive week of increases as refining utilization declined and net imports climbed.

“There’s no demand. If you don’t need the distillate or the gasoline, then you don’t need the crude oil, and you see that in the refinery utilization rate,” said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 2.3 million barrels in the last week, EIA said.

Refinery crude runs fell by 20,000 barrels per day in the last week, EIA said, while utilization rates fell by 0.4 percentage points to 85.7% in the week.

Refineries activity remained subdued due to lingering outages from a late December winter storm and the onset of seasonal maintenance, Kpler analyst Matt Smith said.

U.S. crude oil prices extended losses after the data and were last trading down 51 cents at $78.37 per barrel. Gasoline and heating oil futures also extended losses after EIA data showed builds.

U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 2.6 million barrels in the week to 234.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a rise of 1.4 million barrels.​

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 117.6 million barrels, versus expectations for a drop of 1.3 million barrels, the EIA data showed.

Net U.S. crude imports rose by 2.59 million barrels per day, EIA said.

Imports were helped by a rebound of Canadian oil volumes on the Keystone pipeline, which was temporarily shut after a leak in December, and on strong West Coast imports.
Source: Reuters