U.S. crude stocks rose while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 5.5 million barrels to 461.6 million barrels in the week ended March 27, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 814,000-barrel rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 520,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Oil futures held on to earlier losses following the larger-than-expected build in stocks. Global Brent futures were trading at $101.85 a barrel, off $2.12 at 10:37 a.m. ET (1437), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were at $99.32 a barrel, down $2.06 at that time.
Refinery crude runs fell by 219,000 barrels per day, while utilization rates fell by 0.8 percentage points in the week, the EIA said.
U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 0.6 million barrels in the week to 240.9 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.9 million-barrel draw.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2.1 million barrels in the week to 117.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 0.6 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 209,000 barrels per day, EIA said.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver, Colorado; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )