U.S. fuel inventories surge as refiners boost runs, post holiday lull
(Reuters) - U.S. gasoline and distillate inventories posted large builds last week as demand slipped, while crude stocks fell more than expected, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday, news that sank prices for crude, gasoline and heating oil.
U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 10.9 million barrels, the largest build since May 1993, to 237 million barrels in the week to Dec 29, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 215,000 barrel drop.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 10.1 million barrels, the most since January 2019, to 125.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 588,000 barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
Gasoline futures fell to 2.9%, while heating oil futures fell 1.3% and crude benchmarks eased more than 1%. Brent futures were down $1.25, 1.6%, to $77 by 12:18 p.m. ET (1718 GMT), while U.S. crude futures eased $1.04, or 1.4%, to $71.69.
Gasoline supplied, an indicator of demand, fell 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd), the largest drop since December 2022, to about 8 million bpd.
Distillate fuel oil supplied fell to 2.7 million bpd, the lowest since 1999.
"Weaker implied demand makes sense, given the post-holiday lull after the front-running of demand ahead of the holiday period, nonetheless, such chunky product builds will weigh on sentiment," said Kpler analyst Matt Smith.
Crude inventories fell by 5.5 million barrels in the last week to 431.1 million barrels, driven by stronger refinery runs and higher year-end exports as companies looked to avoid a year-end storage tax.
Analysts' had expected a 3.7 million-barrel drop, in a Reuters poll.
Refinery crude runs rose by 121,000 barrels per day in the last week, EIA said.
Refinery utilization rates rose by 0.2 percentage points in the week to 93.5%.
Crude exports climbed 1.4 million bpd to 5.3 million bpd. Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 758,000 barrels per day, EIA said.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 706,000 barrels last week, the EIA said.
Domestic crude production fell by 100,000 bpd to 13.2 million bpd.
Comments