U.S. crude stocks fell more than expected last week, driven by an increase in crude oil exports, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 9.6 million barrels in the last week to 453.7 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.8 million-barrel drop.
Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 376,000 barrels per day, EIA said, while crude exports rose by 795,000 barrels per day.
“The wider discount of WTI to Brent and lower exports from OPEC countries is likely to keep supporting demand for U.S. crude,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI rose by 1.2 million barrels in the last week to its highest level since 2021, EIA said.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 80 cents or 2.3% to $68.50 a barrel by 1550 GMT and global benchmark Brent rose 71 cents or 1% to $72.97 as traders focused on interest rate hikes that could hurt demand.
“If anybody is going to rain on the bull market it will be Jerome Powell. … The only negative thing we are seeing is that there is still concern about the Federal Reserve slowing the economy,” said Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn.
U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 0.6 million barrels in the week to 222 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.1 million-barrel drop.
However, the four-week average of gasoline product supplied, a proxy for demand, rose to its highest level since December 2021, according to EIA data.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 0.1 million barrels in the week to 114.4 million barrels, versus expectations for a 0.8 million-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
Refinery crude runs fell by 216,000 barrels per day in the last week, EIA said.
Refinery utilization rates fell by 0.9 percentage points in the week.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Additional reporting by Shariq Khan; Editing by Richard Chang)