U.S. crude stocks fell while gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 5.1 million barrels to 423.4 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 29, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 671,000-barrel draw.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 50,000 barrels.
Brent and U.S. crude futures rose after the data showed a larger-than-expected draw in crude stocks.
Refinery crude runs rose by 615,000 barrels per day (bpd) last week.
Refinery utilization rates rose by 2.8 percentage points to 93.3%.
U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 2.4 million barrels to 214.6 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 600,000-barrel build.
U.S. gasoline futures edged lower after the data showed a larger-than-expected build in gasoline stocks.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 3.4 million barrels 118.1 million barrels, versus expectations for a 900,000-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
U.S. heating oil futures edged down after the data.
Net U.S. crude imports rose by 1.64 million bpd, the EIA said, while crude exports fell by 428,000 bpd to 4.24 million bpd.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)