On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that last week, US crude oil stockpiles went up while stocks of fuels went down further.
In the week ended November 5, crude stocks jumped by 1 million barrels, weaker than analysts’ prediction for an increase of 2.1 million barrels. The rise was attributed to the biggest injections from the country’s strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) since July 2017 by 3.1 million barrels.
The US government released a part of the SPR to restrain the rising oil prices. Due to the injection, the SPR was brought to the lowest levels since July 2003.
On the contrary, in the delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, crude stockpiles dipped by 34,000 barrels.
Gasoline inventories slumped for the fifth week in a row by 1.6 million barrels to the lowest level since November 2017.
Distillate stocks also plunged by 2.6 million barrels, exceeding expectations for a drop of 1.1 million barrels. Stocks were at the lowest level since April 2020.
The fall in fuel inventories still happened even as the country’s refiners strengthened activities last week with utilization rates jumping by 0.4% to 86.7% of nameplate capacity. Refinery crude runs expanded by 343,000 bpd.
Last week, net US crude imports dropped by 192,000 bpd.
