U.S. crude stocks rose while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week on stronger demand, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.
Crude inventories rose by 6.4 million barrels to 427.6 million barrels in the week ended November 7, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.96-million-barrel rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 346,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Oil futures pared gains following the report. Global Brent crude futures were trading at $63.13 a barrel, up 43 cents at 12:11 p.m. EDT (1711 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were trading at $58.91 a barrel, up 42 cents.
Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 849,000 bpd, EIA said, while crude exports declined by 1.55 million bpd to 2.82 million bpd.
Refinery crude runs rose by 717,000 barrels per day, the EIA said, while utilization rates rose by 3.4 percentage points to 89.4% in the week.
FUEL STOCKS DROP ‘PUZZLING’
“Continued diesel and gasoline inventory declines are puzzling considering high levels of refinery utilization and the typical seasonal low demand period,” said Josh Young, chief investment officer at Bison Interests.
U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 945,000 barrels in the week to 205.1 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.89-million-barrel draw. U.S. gasoline stocks are at their lowest level since November 2014, according to the EIA.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 637,000 barrels in the week to 110.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 2.03-million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
Total product supplied, a proxy for demand, rose by 414,000 bpd last week to 20.77 million bpd, the EIA said.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by Rod Nickel)