U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week, while gasoline drew down on the back of strong driving demand ahead of the July 4 weekend.

Crude inventories rose by 7.1 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week ended July 4, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.1 million-barrel draw.

Included in the rise was a 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd)adjustment figure week-over-week. The adjustment figure looks at “unaccounted for crude oil,” and serves as a balancing item for the EIA.

“Overall demand jumped back up, so the market is taking the build in crude supplies as kind of a one-off,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst with Price Futures Group.

Gasoline stocks fell by 2.7 million barrels in the week to 229.5 million barrels, the EIA said, nearly double expectations for a 1.5 million-barrel draw.

Gasoline demand rose 6% to 9.2 million bpd last week.

“If we look at gasoline demand numbers, they were back up to a respectable number,” Flynn added.

Crude futures pared up some of their losses after the EIA data showing strong fuel demand.

Brent crude futures were down 19 cents, or 0.3%, at $69.96 a barrel by 10:47 a.m. ET (1447 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was down 26 cents, or 0.4%, at $68.07 a barrel.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for WTI rose by 464,000 barrels, the EIA said.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 825,000 barrels in the week to 102.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 300,000-barrel drop, data showed.

Refinery crude runs, meanwhile, fell by 99,000 bpd, and refinery utilization rates (USOIRU=ECI) fell by 0.2 percentage point to 94.7% of total capacity.

Net U.S. crude imports fell by 1.36 million bpd, the EIA said.
Source: Reuters