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(Reuters) – U.S. crude stocks rose more than expected last week as refining utilization dropped sharply to its lowest in eight months, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Thursday.
Crude inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels to 423.8 million barrels in the week ended October 10, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 288,000-barrel rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 703,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Refinery crude runs dropped by 1.2 million barrels per day, the EIA said.
Refinery utilization rates fell by 6.7 percentage points in the week to 85.7%, the lowest since the week of February 14.
U.S. and Brent crude pared losses after the data also showed a draw in fuel inventories.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 2 cents at $58.25, while Brent crude futures were down 11 cents at $61.80 a barrel.
“A modestly bearish report, with a large crude build being offset by a large distillate draw, but with implied oil demand considerably weaker than last week,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
U.S. distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 4.5 million barrels in the week to 117 million barrels, versus expectations for a 294,000-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
U.S. gasoline stocks dropped by 267,000 barrels in the week to 218.8 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 75,000-barrel draw.
Net U.S. crude imports fell by 1.75 million bpd to 1.06 million bpd, EIA said.
Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar and Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Rod Nickel
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