U.S. crude and fuel stockpiles down last week – EIA

U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 30 to 429.2 million barrels. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected a 2.1 million-barrel rise.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 273,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.

Fuel drawdowns were driven by a spike in fuel product supplied, with a notable increase in finished motor gasoline product.29dk2902l

Refining product supplied is the market’s best proxy for demand; product supplied increased by 0.3%, or 61,000 barrels per day, in the week in the week to Sept. 30.

“All those concerns about demand destruction seem to be going away all of a sudden and we’re going to see that in the products,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Refinery crude runs rose by 210,000 barrels per day and refinery utilization rates rose by 0.7 percentage point last week.

U.S. gasoline stocks fell 4.7 million barrels in the week to 207.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ forecasts for a 1.3 million-barrel drop.​

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell 3.4 million barrels in the week to 110.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.4 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 407,000 bpd, the EIA said. (Reporting by Laura Sanicola Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)