By Anthony Harrup


U.S. crude oil inventories fell for a second straight week as refineries raised their capacity use to its highest level in more than year, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 3.4 million barrels to 445.1 million barrels in the week ended July 5, and were about 4% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. The drawdown followed a 12.2 million barrel reduction the week before.

Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 1.1 million barrels.

Oil held in the SPR increased by 477,000 barrels to 373.1 million barrels. Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, was down by 702,000 barrels at 33.5 million barrels. Refinery capacity use increased by 1.9 percentage points to 95.4%, its highest level since June 2023 and above expectations for refinery runs to be unchanged.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.3 million barrels a day, up 100,000 from the week before. Crude imports increased by 214,000 barrels a day to 6.8 million barrels a day, while exports fell by 402,000 barrels a day to 4 million barrels a day.

Gasoline inventories fell by 2 million barrels to 229.7 million barrels as demand held around 9.4 million barrels during the July 4 holiday week, although down by 26,000 barrels from the week before. Gasoline stocks were forecast to be down by 1.4 million barrels. Inventories were 1% below the five-year average, the EIA said.

Distillate fuel stocks jumped by 4.9 million barrels to 124.6 million barrels, compared with expectations of a 200,000 barrel build. Distillate stocks were 8% below the five-year average.

The impact of Hurricane Beryl, which landed early Monday along the Texas coast between Corpus Christi and Galveston, forcing the closure of major energy ports, is likely to be reflected in the following EIA report. Several producers evacuated offshore platforms ahead of the storm, but expected minimal impact on production. 


 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended July 5: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:          -3.4          -2.0            4.9                 1.9 
Forecast:          -1.1          -1.4            0.2                 unch

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.


Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-10-24 1134ET