U.S. crude stocks fell last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels in the last week to 416.3 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 320,000-barrel drop. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 943,000 barrels in the last week, EIA said.Refinery utilization rates fell by 2.4 percentage points in the week U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 1 million barrels in the week to 220.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 120,000-barrel drop.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 400,000 barrels in the week to 120.1 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.3 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.