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United States crude, fuel stockpiles increase as refining ramps up, EIA says

U.S. crude oil stockpiles increased all of a sudden last week, while fuel and distillate inventories also increased as refining ramped up and demand fell despite the kickoff of the summer season driving season, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

Unrefined inventories increased by 1.2 million barrels to 455.9 million barrels in the week ended May 31, the EIA said, compared with experts' expectations in a poll for a 2.3 million-barrel draw.

Despite constant production and net imports, crude stocks grew due as the EIA's change figure increased to 1.3 million barrels recently, analysts said. The modification element serves as a balancing item when the EIA's supply and need information do not line up.

Crude oil futures edged greater after the information was released. By 1:17 p.m. EDT (1717 GMT) and Brent was up 82 cents, or 1.1%, at $78.34 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude ( WTI) increased 84 cents, or 1.2%, to $74.09.

Refinery crude runs increased by 61,000 barrels per day to 17.1 million bpd, their highest because December 2019, while refinery usage rates rose by 1.1 portion indicate 95.4% of overall capability, the strongest level in a year. Gulf Coast refinery usage likewise hit its greatest considering that June 2023.

We have not run 17 million barrels a day through refineries because 2019, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho bank in New York. They're going to just swamp out the fuel market if they keep doing this.

Fuel stocks rose by 2.1 million barrels in the week to 230.9 million barrels, the EIA stated, slightly more than forecasts for a 2 million-barrel construct.

Gas provided, a proxy for need, fell by 203,000 bpd recently to 8.9 million bpd.

You have the demand number below 9 million (bpd) currently in the week of Memorial Day weekend. That is quite sad considering it was the vacation weekend. Back in the day, we would roll into 9 million in March, Yawger stated.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, increased by 3.2 million barrels in the week to 122.5 million barrels, versus expectations for a 2.5 million-barrel increase, the data showed.

U.S. diesel futures were up 0.8% after the report showed a surprise construct and gas futures were up 0.2%.

Net U.S. crude imports rose recently by 13,000 bpd with imports of crude from Colombia reaching greatest considering that June 2020. Crude exports were up 276,000 bpd to 4.5 million bpd.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, shipment center for the U.S. benchmark rose by 854,000 barrels, the EIA stated.

(source: Reuters)