US crude inventories rise after six weeks of drawdowns, EIA says

Stockpiles rose by 1.36 million barrels to 430.7 million barrels

By Reuters

Published: Wed 14 Aug 2024, 10:03 PM

U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week, building for the first time since late June, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell more than forecast, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 1.36 million barrels to 430.7 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 9, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.2 million-barrel draw.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.7 million barrels, the EIA said.

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Crude futures extended losses following the surprise build. Brent futures were trading at $80.41 a barrel, down about 30 cents, by 12:16 p.m. ET (1616 GMT), while U.S. crude fell 70 cents to $77.66 a barrel.

"The six-week draw was pretty impressive but that's in the rearview mirror. The fact that we snapped the streak should weigh on prices a little bit," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York.

Net U.S. crude imports edged down by 57,000 barrels per day to 2.53 million bpd, while exports rose 118,000 bpd to 3.76 million bpd, the EIA said. Production was down 100,000 bpd to 13.3 million bpd.

The EIA's adjustment figure, which serves as a balancing item for when supply and demand do not align, was 420,000 bpd, a 948,000 bpd-increase from the prior week when that figure was negative 528,000 bpd.

Refinery crude runs rose by 65,000 bpd, and refinery utilization rates rose by 1 percentage point in the week to 91.5%.

Gasoline stocks fell by 2.9 million barrels in the week to 222.2 million barrels, the EIA said, more than double expectations for a 1.3 million-barrel draw. Gasoline inventories are now at their lowest since November.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.7 million barrels in the week to 126.1 million barrels, versus expectations for a 520,000-barrel draw, the data showed.

Jet fuel consumption fell by 346,000 bpd to 1.6 million bpd. Consumption of the aviation fuel has been dragging after a strong start to the year as economic concerns weigh on demand.

The four-week average for product demand was at 20.56 million bpd, down 1.7% from the same period a year ago.