U.S. crude oil inventories decreased while fuel stockpiles rose last week, as refining activity jumped, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.
Crude inventories fell by 4.2 million barrels to 454.7 million barrels in the week ending May 24, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.9 million-barrel draw.
The dip in crude stocks came as refinery crude runs (USOICR=ECI) rose by 601,000 barrels per day in the week to the highest level since December 2019, and refinery utilization rates (USOIRU=ECI) increased by 2.6 percentage points in the week to 94.3%, the EIA said.
Net input of crude to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries rose to 9.3 million bpd, its highest since Jan 2020, according to the data.
The jump in refining drove a surprise increase in fuel stocks, even as product supplied, a proxy for demand, was at around 9.1 million bpd.
"The gasoline demand at 9.1, that's still a good number even though I would have expected that to be up closer to 9.5 going into the last holiday weekend," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, referencing Monday's Memorial Day holiday in the U.S.
"Overall, the report is bearish given the fact that we were able to build gasoline inventories in the face of strong demand," he added.
Brent and U.S. oil futures extended losses after the report, trading down 0.5% on the day.
U.S. gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI) rose by 2 million barrels in the week to 228.8 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.4 million-barrel draw.
Distillate stockpiles (USOILD=ECI), which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.5 million barrels in the week to 119.3 million barrels, versus expectations for a 0.1 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
U.S. diesel futures extended losses, down 1.1%, following the surprise build, while gasoline futures were down 0.9%, dropping to the lowest point since February after the report.
Net U.S. crude imports (USOICI=ECI) rose last week by 611,000 barrels per day, EIA said, while exports declined by 505,000 bpd to 4.22 million bpd.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub (USOICC=ECI) fell by 1.8 million barrels, the EIA said.
