US oil stocks fall more than expected on strong export, refinery demand -EIA - Reuters
US oil stocks fall more than expected on strong export, refinery demand -EIA | Reuters
US oil stocks fall more than expected on strong export, refinery demand -EIA
A pump jack operates in front of a drilling rig at sunset in an oilfield in Midland, Texas U.S. August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
HOUSTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Crude oil inventories (USOILC=ECI) drew down by 10.6 million barrels last week, more than expected on the back of robust exports and sturdy demand from refineries, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.
Crude inventories (USOILC=ECI) dropped to 422.9 million barrels, the lowest level since Dec. 30. Analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll were for a 3.3 million-barrel drop.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub (USOICC=ECI) fell by 1.5 million barrels in the week to Aug. 25, EIA said.
Net U.S. crude imports (USOICI=ECI) fell last week by 586,000 barrels per day (bpd), EIA said.
"Imports were down, and exports up as the Brent/WTI spread is starting to drift out towards minus $5," said Mizuho analyst Robert Yawger.
The spread determines the economics of shipping and a wider discount makes crude oil more attractive to foreign buyers.
Crude futures spiked briefly on the data, but gave up the gains later. Brent crude was 9 cents or 0.1% higher at $85.54 a barrel at 11:11 a.m. ET (3:11 p.m. GMT) Wednesday, while U.S. crude futures rose 16 cents or 0.2% to $81.32.
Domestic production remained unchanged at 12.8 million bpd.
While inputs to refineries remained high, refiners were starting to slow down ahead of the end of summer and into the Labor Day weekend as the driving season is set to come to an end, Yawger added.
Refinery crude runs (USOICR=ECI) fell by 173,000 bpd in the last week, EIA said. Refinery utilization rates (USOIRU=ECI) fell by 1.2 percentage points in the week to 93.3%.
Finished motor gasoline supplied, a proxy for demand, rose to 9.1 million bpd.
"This is probably the last week of gasoline getting a 9 million barrel per day demand number. I would expect it to fall precipitously from here," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital.
U.S. gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI) fell by 0.2 million barrels in the week to 217.4 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.9 million-barrel drop.
Distillate stockpiles (USOILD=ECI), which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.2 million barrels in the week to 117.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 0.2 million-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar; editing by David Evans and Chris Reese
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: petroleum
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