U.S. crude stocks rose while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories rose by 7.1 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week ended July 4, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.1 million-barrel draw. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 464,000 barrels, the EIA said.
Refinery crude runs fell by 99,000 barrels per day, the EIA said. Refinery utilization rates fell by 0.2 percentage points to 94.7% in the week.
U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 2.7 million barrels in the week to 229.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.5 million-barrel draw.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 825,000 barrels in the week to 102.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 0.3 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
Net U.S. crude imports fell by 1.36 million barrels per day, EIA said.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston)