US crude stocks rose 5.128 million barrels as imports on the Atlantic and West coasts surged the week ending August 26, an analysis of the oil data released Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute.
Crude balances suggest there should have been a stock-draw of 1.617 million barrels.
Analysts polled by Platts had projected a draw of 1.2 million barrels.
At 352.176 million barrels, US commercial crude stocks were still 9.347 million barrels below year-ago levels.
Crude imports surged 994,000 b/d to 9.935 million b/d. Crude imports on the Atlantic Coast soared 516,000 b/d with tankers probably rushing to offload ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Irene. Imports also jumped 233,000 b/d to 1.258 million b/d on the West Coast.
While imports increased, inputs to refineries dropped 373,000 b/d to 15.375 million b/d. But the decline in inputs occurred in every region. Any drop in refinery activity on the Atlantic Coast due to the effects of Irene will most likely appear in the next report.
Gasoline stocks declined 3.108 million barrels as imports fell to abnormally low 619,000 b/d, a week-over-week drop of 129,000 b/d.
At 210.798 million barrels, US gasoline stocks were 14.842 million barrels below year-ago levels.
Analysts polled by Platts had projected a decline of 1.1 million barrels.
The largest decline in gasoline stocks did occur on the Atlantic Coast where inventories fell 1.469 million barrels to 55.073 million barrels. Every other region also saw gasoline stock-declines with a jump in demand of 317,000 b/d to 9.173 million b/d contributing to the draw.
Stocks of middle distillates eked out a 276,000-barrel build, less than the 1.1 million-barrel increase analysts had been looking for.
At 153.108 million barrels, stocks of middle distillates were 14.633 million barrels below year-ago levels. The modest stock-build was caused by a rebound of 182,000 b/d in demand to 4.332 million b/d while imports fell 40,000 b/d to 186,000 b/d.
