US crude stocks rose while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 922,000 barrels to 427.3 million barrels in the week ended September 25, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 264,000-barrel draw.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 553,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Oil futures held onto earlier gains following the report. Global Brent crude futures were trading at $103.63 a barrel, up $1.04, at 10:36 a.m. ET (1436 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate futures were up $1.89 a barrel to $91.27.
Refinery crude runs fell by 554,000 barrels per day in the week, the EIA said, while utilization rates fell by 1.5 percentage points to 92.5%.
US gasoline stocks fell by 1.7 million barrels in the week to 204.4 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 485,000-barrel draw.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 105.2 million barrels, versus expectations for a 190,000-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
US diesel futures extended gains following the report and were up by 4.5% to $5.1175 a gallon.
Net US crude imports fell last week by 468,000 barrels per day, the EIA said.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver and Arathy Somasekhar in Houston;)