Last week, US crude oil stockpiles went up beyond the predictions, but inventories on the Cushing, Oklahoma hub plunged.
On Wednesday, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that in the week ended October 22, crude stocks soared by 4.3 million barrels to 430.8 million barrels. Analysts only expected a rise of 1.9 million barrels.
The Gulf Coast’s stockpiles jumped to 247 million barrels, partly on account of the net rise in imports, which touched the highest rate since June.
On the contrary, inventories at the delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma dipped by 3.9 million barrels last week to 27.3 million barrels. It was the lowest level since 2018. Since the rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, stocks at the hub have been low.
US gasoline inventories also hit the lowest level since 2017 by falling by 2 million barrels to 215.8 million barrels. Distillate stocks dropped by 432,000 barrels to 125 million barrels.
Meanwhile, refinery crude runs inched up by 58,000 bpd last week and the utilization rate edged up by 0.4%.
