The report released by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) on Wednesday showed that US crude oil stocks fell last week, exports fell to low since 2018, while gasoline inventories unexpectedly increased, with distillate stocks reaching a low of more than a year.
US crude oil inventories fell 427,000 barrels, to 484.7 million barrels as of the week of May 7, according to EIA data, and analysts previously estimated a 2.8 million barrel decline. Crude oil stocks on the east coast of the United States have fallen to record lows.
Crude oil inventories at Cushing warehouse, Oklahoma, fell 421, 000 barrels last week.
The EIA said net US crude oil imports increased 2.4 million barrels/ day last week, the lowest level since October 2018 as exports fell to 1.8 million barrels/ day. Oil prices held up after EIA inventory data were released.
The EIA said US gasoline inventories rose nearly 400,000 barrels, to 236.9 million barrels as of the week of May 7, after analysts had previously estimated a reduction of 600,000 barrels.
The EIA data show that distillate stocks, including diesel and heating oil, fell 1.7 million barrels to 134.42 million barrels, a slightly higher than expected decline of 1.1 million barrels. Distillate oil inventory is at its lowest level since April 2020.
The EIA said crude oil processing in refineries fell 223,000 barrels/ day and capacity utilization fell 0.4 percentage points.
