U.S. crude stocks rose much more than expected last week as the United States posted higher net crude imports, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, while gasoline inventories were largely flat during the Fourth of July holiday week when analysts had expected a big draw.
Crude inventories rose by 5.9 million barrels in the week to July 7 to 458.1 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 500,000-barrel rise.
Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 599,000 barrels per day, EIA said.
U.S. gasoline stocks were virtually unchanged, falling by just 3,000 barrels in the week to 219.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 700,000 million-barrel drop.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 4.8 million barrels in the week to 118.2 million barrels, versus expectations for a 300,000-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
“There was a drop in gasoline demand and diesel but the market is not that concerned because part of that was impacted by the Fourth of July holiday and the expectation is that crude draws will restart next week,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.
After the data, Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures pared gains but were still trading about 1 per cent higher on the day.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.6 million barrels in the last week, EIA said.
Refinery crude runs rose by 629,000 barrels per day in the last week to 16.7 million barrels per day, EIA said, the highest since June 2022.
Refinery utilization rates rose by 2.6 percentage points in the week.