On Wednesday, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that last week, the country’s crude oil stockpiles rose within expectations but inventories for both gasoline and distillate went down.
For the week ended October 2, crude oil inventories jumped by 501,000 barrels to 492.9 million barrels, while a Reuters poll only expected a 294,000 barrel rise.
Domestic oil output jumped by 300,000 bpd week-on-week to 11 million bpd as a surprise. Imports also soared by 610,000 bpd while exports slumped by 853,000 bpd.
Analyst Bob Yawger of Mizuho expected the readings were affected by the hurricanes in the past months.
Demand for fuel improved said the EIA, with product supplied climbing for both gasoline and distillates. However, year-on-year, product supplied still tumbled by 15% as the US is still weighed down by the coronavirus pandemic.
Distillate inventories sank by 962,000 barrels and gasoline stocks tumbled by 1.4 million barrels last week to 226.8 million barrels, the lowest since November 2019. Refinery crude runs accelerated by 183,000 bpd with the utilization rates advanced by 1.3%.
