By Dan Molinski
U.S. inventories of crude oil climbed much more than expected as refinery activity hit the brakes, according to data released Thursday by the Energy Information Administration.
Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were higher before the report was released held on to those gains afterward. The Nymex front-month crude contract for October delivery was recently up 1.7% at $83.29 a barrel.
Crude-oil stockpiles climbed by 8.8 million barrels, to 427.2 million barrels, and are now just 3% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would rise by just 300,000 barrels from the prior week.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, decreased by 501,000 barrels from the previous week, to 24.8 million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report.
U.S. crude-oil production was unchanged from the previous week at 12.1 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.
Gasoline stockpiles rose by 333,000 barrels, to 214.8 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations for inventories to decrease by 1.4 million barrels from the previous week.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 95,000 barrels, to 111.8 million barrels, and remain about 23% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts were forecasting distillates inventories would rise by 200,000 barrels from the previous week.
The refining capacity utilization rate fell by a larger-than-expected 1.8 percentage points from the previous week, to 90.9%. Analysts were forecasting just a 0.3 percentage-point decline.
U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 2:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: +8.8 +0.3 +0.1 -1.8
Forecast: +0.3 -1.4 +0.2 -0.3
Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.
Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-08-22 1135ET
