U.S. crude oil inventories rose last week as refineries headed into maintenance season, while gasoline stocks fell ahead of the long Labor Day weekend, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Thursday.

Crude inventories rose by 2.4 million barrels to 420.7 million barrels in the week ended August 29, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2 million-barrel draw.

“This is a little bit of a bearish report with that crude build,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, adding that crude stocks would face pressure from refineries dialing back for autumn maintenance.

U.S. oil prices held steady after the data, trading down 0.7% at $63.51 at 12:12 p.m. ET (1612 GMT). Brent crude prices were 0.8% lower at $67.05.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 1.6 million barrels last week, the EIA said.

Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 434,000 barrels per day, data showed.

Refinery crude runs fell by 11,000 bpd and refinery utilization rates fell by 0.3 percentage point in the week to 94.3%.

Gasoline stocks fell by 3.8 million barrels in the week to 218.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel draw.

Distillate stockpiles), which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.7 million barrels in the week to 115.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 600,000-barrel drop, the data showed.
Source: Reuters