*Crude exports rise by 620,000 bpd, driving inventory draw
*Gasoline stocks fall by 1.3 mlb bbls, demand above 9 mln bpd
*Distillate stockpiles drop unexpectedly, down by 565,000 bbls
(Updates throughout, adds market reaction)
By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK, Aug 6 – U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week as exports rose, while gasoline and distillate inventories also declined, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels to 423.7 million barrels in the week ended August 1, the EIA said, exceeding analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 591,000-barrel draw.
Stockpiles dropped as crude exports rose by 620,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 3.3 million bpd, the EIA said. As a result, net U.S. crude imports fell by 794,000 bpd.
“We got a pretty nice draw of 3 million here, and I can tell you the big reason that is the case, it’s coming from the exports,” said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. Refinery crude runs rose by 213,000 bpd, while refinery utilization rates rose by 1.5 percentage points to 96.9% of total capacity, further drawing from crude inventories.
Refinery utilization on the Gulf Coast and West Coast both hit their highest levels since 2023.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures rose by 453,000 barrels, the EIA said.
Immediately following the data release, oil futures held their gains and were last up around 1%.
Gasoline stocks fell by 1.3 million barrels in the week to 227.1 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with expectations for a 400,000-barrel draw.
Product supplied of gasoline, a proxy for demand, fell 112,000 bpd but stayed above 9 million bpd. “You don’t ever want to see gasoline demand below 9 million barrels a day during summer driving season, so we’re hanging in there,” Yawger said.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 565,000 barrels in the week to 113 million barrels, versus expectations for a 775,000-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; additional reporting by Arathy Somasekhar Editing by Marguerita Choy)