U.S. crude stocks and distillate inventories fell while gasoline inventories rose last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 3.2 million barrels to 424.1 million barrels in the week ended October 2, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.7 million-barrel rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 444,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Oil futures pared some earlier gains despite the surprise draw in stocks. Global Brent crude futures were trading at $101.49 a barrel, up 91 cents, at 10:36 a.m. ET (1436 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were up 13 cents to $89.57 a barrel.
Refinery crude runs rose by 223,000 barrels per day in the week, the EIA said, while utilization rates rose by 0.2 percentage points to 92.7%.
US gasoline stocks rose by 0.4 million barrels to 204.7 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.7 million-barrel draw.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, were little changed in week at 105.1 million barrels, versus expectations for a 2.1 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
Net US crude imports fell last week by 53,000 barrels per day, EIA said.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver and Nicole Jao in New York Editing by Nick Zieminski)