U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories fell last week, while distillate stockpiles rose, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories fell by 3.2 million barrels to 419 million barrels in the week ended July 18, the EIA said, double analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.6 million-barrel draw.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 455,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.

Oil futures pared earlier losses following the larger-than-expected draw. Global benchmark Brent futures were trading at $68.33 a barrel, down 26 cents, by 10:40 a.m. EDT (1440 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 31 cents to $65 a barrel.

Refinery crude runs rose by 87,000 barrels per day, while refinery utilization rates rose by 1.6 percentage points in the week to 95.5% of total capacity.

Gasoline stocks fell by 1.7 million barrels last week to 231.1 million barrels, the EIA said, also nearly double expectations for a 908,000-barrel draw.​

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.9 million barrels in the week to 109.9 million barrels, the data showed, versus forecasts for a 1.1 million-barrel drop.

Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 740,000 barrels per day, the EIA said.
Source: Reuters