By Dan Molinski
U.S. commercial inventories of crude oil fell more than expected last week as refinery activity continued to speed up, according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.
Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were slightly higher before the mixed report was released turned slightly lower afterward. The Nymex front-month crude contract for January delivery was recently down 0.4%, at $73.99 a barrel.
Commercial crude-oil stockpiles dropped by 5.2 million barrels, to 413.9 million barrels, and are now about 9% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by just 1.4 million barrels from the prior week.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, decreased by 373,000 barrels from the previous week, to 23.9 million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report.
U.S. crude-oil production rose by 100,000 barrels a day from the previous week, to 12.2 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.
Gasoline stockpiles jumped by 5.3 million barrels, to 219.1 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations of a 1.5-million-barrel increase.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 6.2 million barrels, to 118.8 million barrels, and are now 9% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts had forecast distillates inventories would rise by just 820,000 barrels from the previous week.
The refining capacity utilization rate increased by 0.3 percentage points from the previous week, to 95.5%. Analysts were forecasting a 0.4 percentage-point increase from the week prior.
U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Dec. 2:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: -5.2 +5.3 +6.2 +0.3
Forecast: -1.4 +1.5 +0.8 +0.4
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
12-07-22 1111ET
