U.S. crude oil inventories rose sharply last week as imports ticked higher, while gasoline stocks rose unexpectedly as refineries ramped up output after seasonal maintenance, Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 5.5 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week ending Oct. 18, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 270,000-barrel rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 346,000 barrels, the EIA said.
“The large crude oil inventory build this week is offsetting the drop last week. But a lot of this is a result of the rebound in crude oil imports, a lot of it had to do with the hurricane,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, referring to the previous week’s 2.2 million-barrel drawdown due to lower imports and demand post Hurricane Milton.
Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 913,000 barrels per day to 2.3 million bpd, as exports fell 11,000 bpd to 4.11 million bpd.
U.S. crude and Brent futures extended losses after the data.
Refinery crude runs rose by 329,000 barrels per day in the week, the EIA said.
“We’re seeing the return of refineries from their seasonal fall maintenance as utilization is now ticking up, and I expect that trend will continue over the next few weeks,” Lipow added.
Refinery utilization rates increased for a second straight week after five weeks of declines, rising 1.8 percentage points last week to 89.5% of total capacity.
“As we continue to gradually exit from peak refinery maintenance at the start of the month, runs have climbed back up,” said Matt Smith, an analyst for ship tracking firm Kpler.
“This rebound in refining activity has yielded a build to gasoline and while distillates showed a minor draw,” Smith added.
Gasoline stocks rose by 900,000 barrels in the week to 213.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with expectations for a 1.2 million-barrel draw.
U.S. gasoline futures extended losses following the data.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.1 million barrels in the week to 113.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.7 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
U.S. heating oil futures extended losses, despite the smaller-than-expected weekly draw.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston Editing by Marguerita Choy)