U.S. crude stocks fell last week as refining activity picked up, driving gasoline and distillate inventories higher, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 3.6 million barrels to 432.4 million barrels in the week ended June 6, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2 million-barrel draw.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 403,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Crude futures fell following the report, despite the larger than expected draw, but were still trading in positive territory. Brent crude was trading at $67.99 a barrel, up $1.1 at 10:57 a.m. EDT (1457 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $66.27 a barrel, up $1.27 at that time.
Refinery crude runs rose by 228,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the week ended, the EIA said, while utilization rates rose by 0.9 percentage points to 94.3%.Net inputs of crude oil to refineries rose last week to its highest level since December 2019, according to the data.
“Utilization is picking up seasonally, and refining margins are still signalling reasonably strong demand,” said Josh Young, chief investment officer at Bison Interests.
U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 1.5 million barrels in the week to 229.8 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.9 million-barrel build.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.2 million barrels in the week to 108.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 0.8 million-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
The four-week average product supplied for distillate fuel fell last week to 3.458 million bpd, its lowest since April 2024.
Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 451,000 bpd, EIA said. The U.S. did not receive any imports of crude from Saudi Arabia for the first time since January 2021, according to the data.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)