US crude oil, gasoline, distillate inventories rise

New York: The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced a rise in US crude oil, gasoline, and distillate inventories last week. The EIA,...

New York: The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced a rise in US crude oil, gasoline, and distillate inventories last week.

The EIA, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, said in a statement on Wednesday that crude oil inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels to 416.5 million barrels last week, compared to expectations for a 1 million-barrel increase.

It stated that crude oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 271,000 barrels last week, noting that refinery crude oil runs fell by 308,000 barrels per day, while refinery utilization rates fell by 1.6 percentage points to 91.4 percent.

The EIA also indicated that gasoline inventories rose by 4.1 million barrels during the week to 220.7 million barrels, compared to expectations for a 0.7 million-barrel increase.

Data from the Energy Information Administration showed that distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 0.6 million barrels during the week to 123.6 million, compared to expectations for a decrease of 1.1 million barrels. It also indicated that net US crude oil imports rose last week by 71,000 barrels per day.