By Dan Molinski
U.S. commercial inventories of crude-oil decreased more than expected last week but diesel fuel inventories unexpectedly increased for a third straight week, according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.
Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were little changed before the report was released remained so afterward. The Nymex front-month crude contract for December delivery was recently up 0.2% at $88.55 a barrel.
Commercial crude-oil stockpiles fell by 3.1 million barrels to 436.8 million barrels, and are now 3% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by just 200,000 barrels from the prior week. The large decline in inventories was due partly to a smaller-than-normal weekly transfer of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the commercial side, as the program begins to wind down.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, increased by 1.3 million barrels from the previous week to 28.2 million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report.
U.S. crude-oil production fell by 100,000 barrels a day last week to 11.9 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 1.3 million barrels to 206.6 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations for inventories to decrease by 900,000 barrels from the previous week.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 427,000 barrels to 106.8 million barrels, but are now 19% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts had forecast distillates inventories would fall by 800,000 barrels from the previous week.
The refining capacity utilization rate unexpectedly jumped by a large 1.7 percentage points from the previous week to 90.6%. Analysts were forecasting a much smaller, 0.5 percentage point increase from the week prior.
U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Oct. 28:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: -3.1 -1.3 +0.4 +1.7
Forecast: -0.2 -0.9 -0.8 +0.5
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
11-02-22 1104ET
