U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 3.7 million barrels to 429.3 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 2, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 700,000-barrel draw.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 579,000 barrels, the EIA said.
Oil futures extended gains, climbing 2% following larger-than-expected decline in inventories. Brent crude was trading at $78.08 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate futures were at $78.9 a barrel by 10:40 a.m. ET (1440 GMT).
Refinery crude runs rose by 252,000 barrels per day, and utilization rates rose by 0.4 percentage point to 90.5% of total capacity in the week, the EIA said.
Gasoline stocks rose by 1.3 million barrels in the week to 225.1 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with expectations for a 1 million-barrel draw.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 900,000 barrels in the week to 127.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 200,000-barrel build, data showed.
U.S. gasoline and diesel futures also climbed following the report.
Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 552,000 bpd, the EIA said.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver Editing by Marguerita Choy)