U.S. crude stocks climbed as imports rose to an 11-week high, the EIA said on Wednesday, while fuel inventories also increased as refining activity ticked higher.
Crude inventories climbed by 2.8 million barrels to 426.9 million barrels in the week ended November 21, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 55,000-barrel rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 68,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Oil futures were little changed following the report. Global Brent crude futures were trading at $62.34 a barrel, off 14 cents at 10:48 a.m. EDT (1548 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down six cents at $57.91 a barrel. “We are definitely on the road to a rather healthy supply glut, there is no doubt about it, and the crude build is indicative of that,” said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital. “The fact that we were able to build even on strong refinery run rates and decent enough exports shows what we are up against.”
U.S. crude exports were 3.6 million barrels per day, down 560,000 bpd from the prior week. Net U.S. crude imports climbed by 1.05 million bpd, EIA said, to 2.84 million bpd, their highest since early September.
Refinery crude runs rose by 211,000 bpd, the EIA said, while utilization rates increased by 2.3 percentage points in the week to 92.3%.
“Refiners seem to be reacting to higher refining margins as refining capacity went back up to 92.3%, which is pretty impressive for this time of year,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst with Price Futures Group.
Total product supplied, a proxy for demand, rose by 83,000 bpd to 20.24 million bpd.
U.S. gasoline stocks rose 2.5 million barrels in the week to 209.9 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 745,000-barrel build.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.1 million barrels to 112.2 million barrels, versus expectations for a 556,000-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver and Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Rod Nickel)