U.S. Crude-Oil Inventories Fall to Lowest Level of 2023

By Dan Molinski

U.S. inventories of crude oil fell by more than expected last week, hitting their lowest level of the year, according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.

Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were higher before the report extended those gains afterward. The Nymex front-month crude contract for November delivery was recently up 2.9% at $92.97 a barrel.

Commercial crude-oil stockpiles dropped by 2.2 million barrels last week to 416.3 million barrels, the lowest total since Dec. 2, 2022, and are now 4% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall 600,000 barrels from the prior week.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, fell by 943,000 barrels from the previous week to 22 million barrels, the EIA said, which is the lowest total since July 8, 2022.

U.S. crude-oil production was unchanged from the previous week at a three-and-a-half-year high of 12.9 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.

Gasoline stockpiles climbed by 1 million barrels to 220.5 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations of a 200,000-barrel decrease.

Distillate stocks, which are mostly diesel fuel, rose by 398,000 barrels to 120.1 million barrels, and are now about 13% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts had forecast distillates inventories would fall by 1 million barrels last week.

The refining capacity utilization rate slid by 2.4 percentage points from the previous week to 89.5%, compared with expectations for just a 0.5-percentage-point decrease.

U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 22:

 
                  Crude         Gasoline       Distillates      Refinery Use 
EIA data:         -2.2            +1.0            +0.4              -2.4 
Forecast:         -0.6            -0.2            -1.0              -0.5 
 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 27, 2023 11:09 ET (15:09 GMT)

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