U.S. Crude Oil Stocks Rise After Six Straight Declines — Update

By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories rose for the first time in seven weeks, while gasoline and distillate fuel stocks fell amid increases in demand, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 1.4 million barrels to 430.7 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 9 and were about 5% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said.

The crude stock build followed six consecutive weeks of withdrawals. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 1.2 million barrels.

Oil held in the SPR rose by 694,000 barrels to 376.5 million barrels.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, fell by 1.7 million barrels to 28.8 million barrels. Refinery capacity use was up by 1 percentage point at 91.5%, compared with expectations in the Journal survey of a 0.1 percentage-point increase.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.3 million barrels a day, down from the record 13.4 million barrels a day reported the previous week. Crude imports rose by 61,000 barrels a day to 6.3 million barrels a day, and exports increased by 118,000 barrels a day to 3.8 million barrels a day.

Stocks of gasoline fell by 2.9 million barrels to 222.2 million barrels and were 3% below the five-year average, with demand up by 78,000 barrels a day at 9 million barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were expected to have fallen by 1.6 million barrels a day.

Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 1.7 million barrels to 126.1 million barrels versus an expected decline of 300,000 barrels. Distillate stocks were about 7% below the five-year average, the EIA said.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 9: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:           1.4          -2.9           -1.7                  1.0 
Forecast:          -1.2          -1.6           -0.3                  0.1 
 

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

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 14, 2024 11:59 ET (15:59 GMT)

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