By Dan Molinski

 

U.S. crude-oil inventories declined more than expected last week as US refinery activity surged to its highest level since 2019, according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.

Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were higher before the mixed-to-bullish report was released held onto those gains afterward. The Nymex front-month crude contract for July delivery was recently up 0.6% at $110.45 a barrel.

Crude-oil stockpiles fell by 1 million barrels, to 419.8 million barrels, and remain about 14% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 600,000 barrels from the prior week.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, decreased by 1.1 million 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 11.9 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.

Gasoline stockpiles declined by 482,000 barrels, to 219.7 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations for inventories to decrease by 1.2 million barrels from the previous week.

Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 1.7 million barrels, to 106.9 million barrels, and are now about 21% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts were forecasting distillates inventories would rise just 200,000 barrels from the previous week.

The refining capacity utilization rate jumped by 1.4 percentage points from the previous week, to 93.2%, which is the highest since late December 2019, and compares to analysts' forecasts for a smaller, 0.7 percentage-point increase.

 
 
 
 
U.S. oil inventories for the week ended May 20: 
 
             Crude  Gasoline  Distillates  Refinery Use 
EIA data:     -1.0      -0.5        +1.7           +1.4 
Forecast:     -0.6      -1.2        +0.2           +0.7

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

05-25-22 1104ET