U.S. crude stocks rose as oil refiners took in less oil, following extreme cold weather that knocked out utilization last month, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 5.5 million barrels to 427.4 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 2, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.9 million-barrel rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 33,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Oil prices rose immediately following the data despite the crude stockpile build. Brent and U.S. crude futures edged higher to $78.80 a barrel and $73.50 a barrel, respectively.
Refinery crude runs fell by 9,000 barrels per day, the EIA said, to their lowest level since January 2023, while utilization rates fell by 0.5 percentage points to the lowest level since December 2022, according to the EIA data.
On the U.S. Gulf Coast, which was hit last month by a deep freeze that knocked off 15% of refining capacity, utilization rates dipped to their lowest level since September 2021, according to the data.
“The crude build is mostly the result of low refinery runs – storm and maintenance related, and higher net-imports of U.S. crude,” said Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS. “But with recovering U.S. oil demand, refined products saw large draws, resulting in very large refined product draws.”
U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 3.1 million barrels in the week to 251 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 140,000-barrel build.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 3.2 million barrels in the week to 127.6 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
Net U.S. crude imports rose by 1.6 million barrels per day, EIA said.
U.S. oil production of crude oil returned last week to a record high of 13.3 million bpd.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly, additional reporting by Nicole Jao; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)