On Tuesday, industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) said that last week, the inventories of crude oil and gasoline in the US went up while distillate stockpiles fell.
In the week to October 23, crude stocks soared by 4.6 million barrels to around 495.2 million barrels. Analysts in a Reuters poll only expected a 1.2 million barrels rise. At the Cushing delivery hub, Oklahoma, crude stocks climbed by 136,000 barrels.
Refinery crude runs edged up by 176,000 bpd while the country’s crude imports jumped by 436,000 bpd.
Likewise, gasoline inventories also rose by 2.6 million barrels, way beyond analysts forecasts for a drop of 961,000 barrels.
Inventories of distillate fuels which include diesel and heating oil slumped by 5.3 million barrels, against predictions of a 2.1 million barrels draw.
