By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. crude stocks rose as domestic oil production gained, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 3.9 million barrels in the last week to 440.8 million barrels, the highest since July 2021. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected a 1.4 million-barrel rise.
U.S. oil production increased by 200,000 barrels per day to 12.1 million bpd, the highest since September, EIA said.
“The report was once again mixed but tilted towards bearish with the crude oil build and the jump in domestic production,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.
Meanwhile, gasoline stocks fell by about 900,000 barrels in the week to 205.7 million barrels, the EIA said, the lowest since November 2014. Analysts anticipated a 1.1 million-barrel drop.
On the East Coast, gasoline stockpiles fell to the lowest since December 2012, while on the Gulf Coast inventories dropped to the lowest since March 2021, EIA data showed.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by about 500,000 barrels in the week to 106.3 million barrels, versus expectations for a 0.8 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
The four-week average for product supplied – a proxy for demand – rose to the highest since March, the data showed.
“Gasoline demand is hanging in there,” said Tony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging. “Refineries continue to have an incentive to max out their production.”
Refinery crude runs rose by 247,000 barrels per day in the last week, EIA said.
Refinery utilization rates rose by 1.5 percentage points in the week.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 923,000 barrels in the last week, the EIA said.
Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 653,000 barrels per day, it said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Barbara Lewis)
