As refining activity picked up and imports fell, US crude oil stockpiles dropped sharply from record highs, the Energy Information Administration said. Compared with analysts’ expectations for a 710,000-barrel drop, crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to June 26 to 533.5 million barrels.
Inventories are down from an all-time record of 540.7 million barrels set in mid-June, but remain 15 percent higher than the five-year average for this time of year. Net US crude imports fell last week by 506,000 bpd.
Due to a flood of shipments arriving from Saudi Arabia, imports had been elevated in recent weeks. Saudi imports came to 826,000 bpd in the most recent week, their lowest in six weeks. Refinery crude runs rose by 193,000 bpd and refinery utilization rates rose by 0.9 percentage point to 75.5 percent of overall capacity.
Gasoline supply was down by 15 percent from a year earlier, and traders worried that surging coronavirus cases in the US would cut off the steady rebound in demand from April and May’s slump. Compared with expectations for a 1.6 million-barrel drop, US gasoline stocks rose by 1.2 million barrels.
