U.S. crude stocks fell while gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 2 million barrels to 412.7 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 10, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 992,000-barrel draw.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 765,000 barrels.
Brent, U.S. crude futures pared gains despite the larger-than-expected draw in crude stocks.
Brent crude futures were up $1.44 to $78.94 a barrel at 10:36 a.m. EST, while U.S. crude futures were up $1.03 to $80.95.
Refinery crude runs fell by 255,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the week, the EIA said.
Refinery utilization rates fell by 1.6 percentage points 91.7%.
U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 5.9 million barrels in the week to 243.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 2 million-barrel build.
U.S. gasoline futures pared gains after the larger-than-expected build in gasoline stocks.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 3.1 million barrels to 132 million barrels, versus expectations for a 800,000-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
U.S. heating oil futures extended gains despite the larger-than-expected build in distillate stocks.
Net U.S. crude imports fell by 1.3 million bpd, EIA said, to 2.05 million bpd.
Weekly crude exports were up 1 million bpd to 4.08 million bpd.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)