DENVER, Aug 7 (Reuters) – U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell more than expected last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose as refining activity picked up and demand dropped, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 3.7 million barrels to 429.3 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 2, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 700,000-barrel draw.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub (USOICC=ECI), opens new tab rose by 579,000 barrels, the EIA said.
Oil futures extended gains, climbing 2% following the larger-than-anticipated decline in inventories. Brent crude was trading at $78.08 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $78.90 a barrel by 10:40 a.m. ET (1440 GMT).
“This is starting to become a trend – the sixth week in a row crude has fallen and plays into the mantra that supplies are tightening and demand is exceeding supply,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.
The EIA on Tuesday forecast tighter supply and demand balances for 2024, raising its outlook for oil consumption but lowering its expectations for production.
Refinery crude runs (USOICR=ECI), opens new tab rose by 252,000 barrels per day, and utilization rates (USOIRU=ECI), opens new tab were up by 0.4 percentage point to 90.5% of total capacity in the week, the EIA said.
Net U.S. crude imports (USOICI=ECI), opens new tab rose last week by 552,000 bpd, while exports were down 1.28 million bpd to 3.64 million bpd, the EIA said.
