By Anthony Harrup


U.S. crude-oil inventories fell more than expected last week in a third consecutive decline as refineries increased their capacity use, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude-oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 3.6 million barrels to 432.4 million barrels in the week ended June 6, and were about 8% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 1.6 million-barrel decline in crude stockpiles.

Oil held in the SPR rose by 237,000 barrels to 402.1 million barrels. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were down by 403,000 barrels at 23.7 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude-oil production at 13.4 million barrels a day, up by 20,000 barrels a day from the week before. Crude imports fell by 170,000 barrels a day to 6.2 million barrels a day, and exports were down by 621,000 barrels a day at 3.3 million barrels a day.

Refinery capacity use rose by 0.9 percentage point to 94.3%, with crude-oil input to refineries up by 228,000 barrels a day at 17.2 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were seen rising by 0.2 percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories rose by 1.5 million barrels to 229.8 million barrels, and were around 2% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand rose by 907,000 barrels a day to 9.2 million barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were projected to have increased by 900,000 barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks increased by 1.2 million barrels to 108.9 million barrels, versus expectations of a 900,000-barrel build, and were 17% below the five-year average. 


 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended June 6: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:          -3.6           1.5            1.2                  0.9 
Forecast:          -1.6           0.9            0.9                  0.2

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

06-11-25 1111ET