U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose more than expected last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories posted surprise drawdowns, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.
Crude inventories rose by 2.1 million barrels to 429.7 million barrels in the week to Nov. 8, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 750,000-barrel rise.
Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures fell by 688,000 barrels.
Net U.S. crude imports fell by 321,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 3.1 million barrels, as exports rose by 590,000 bpd to 3.4 million bpd.
Brent and U.S. crude futures edged higher after the data showed the surprise draw in fuel stocks.
Gasoline stocks fell by 4.4 million barrels in the week to 206.9 million barrels, compared with expectations for a 600,000-barrel build.
U.S. gasoline futures spiked after the surprise draw.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.4 million barrels in the week to 114.4 million barrels, versus expectations for a 200,000-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
U.S. heating oil futures briefly climbed after the data was released, and were last up 0.4%.
Refinery crude runs rose by 175,000 bpd and refinery utilization rates rose by 0.9 percentage point to 91.4% of total capacity.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston Editing by Marguerita Choy)