US oil inventories rise across the board on low exports, weak demand – EIA

U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week mainly driven by low crude exports and as implied demand for refined products declined, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 5.8 million barrels to 457.3 million barrels in the week ended April 5, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.4 million-barrel rise.

Crude futures fell after the bigger-than-expected build.

Brent futures were trading 3 cents lower at 89.39 a barrel by 10:48 a.m. ET (1448 GMT). West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) CLc1 were down 11 cents at $85.12 a barrel.

“Looking at the price reaction, seems the market takes it as one off as the build was driven by low crude exports,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. Most of the crude build was in the Gulf Coast, he added.

Net U.S. crude imports rose by 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) as exports fell by 1.3 million bpd to 2.71 million bpd, the EIA said.

Product supplied by refineries, a proxy for fuel demand, was 20 million bpd over the past four weeks, down by 0.4% from the same period last year.

Refinery utilization fell by 0.3 percentage point to 88.3% of total capacity, while refinery inputs USOICR=ECI were down 115,000 bpd.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for fell by 170,000 barrels, the EIA said.

Gasoline stocks rose by 700,000 barrels to 228.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with forecasts for a 1.3 million-barrel draw.

U.S. gasoline futures RBc1 extended losses after data showed the surprise build.​

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.7 million barrels in the week to 117.7 million barrels, the EIA data showed, versus expectations for a 1.2 million-barrel drop,
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nicole Jao, Editing by Marguerita Choy)