U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell sharply last week as net imports dropped to a record low amid a jump in exports to a near two-year high, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Gasoline inventories also declined unexpectedly in the week ended September 12, while distillate stockpiles rose more than expected, the EIA said.
Crude stocks fell by 9.3 million barrels last week to 415.4 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 857,000-barrel draw.
U.S. crude exports rose by 2.53 million barrels per day (bpd), to 5.28 million bpd, the highest level since December 2023. Net U.S. crude imports (USOICI=ECI), fell by 3.11 million bpd, hitting their lowest level on record going back to 2021.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub (USOICC=ECI), fell by 296,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Some analysts suggested that the large crude export figure could be an anomaly.
“We’ve got tremendous variability in the export data for crude oil. Last week it was super low, this week it was super high,” said John Kilduff, a partner with Again Capital.
Crude oil futures rose following the larger-than-expected drawdown but then pared some of those gains and were still in negative territory. Global benchmark Brent crude futures were trading at $68.29 a barrel, down 18 cents at 10:53 a.m. EDT (1453 GMT), while U.S. crude futures were 22 cents lower at $64.30 a barrel.
A jump in distillate stockpiles, which stoked concerns about demand, kept a lid on prices, analysts also said.
“Looks like markets are responding on diesel, which is the soft underbelly of the entire complex,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst with Price Futures Group.
Distillate stockpiles (USOILD=ECI), which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 4 million barrels in the week to 124.7 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1 million-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
Gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI), fell by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 217.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with forecasts for a 100,000-barrel build.
Total product supplied, a proxy for demand was 20.64 million bpd, up from 19.78 million bpd the week prior.
Refinery crude runs (USOICR=ECI), fell by 394,000 bpd in the week, while utilization rates (USOIRU=ECI), fell by 1.6 percentage points to 93.3%.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston and Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by Marguerita Choy)