U.S. Crude Oil Stocks Rise After Six Straight Declines

By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories rose for the first time in seven weeks, while gasoline and distillate fuel stocks fell amid increases in demand, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 1.4 million barrels to 430.7 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 9 and were about 5% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said.

This crude stock build followed six consecutive weeks of withdrawals. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 1.2 million barrels.

Stocks of gasoline fell by 2.9 million barrels to 222.2 million barrels, and distillate fuel inventories declined by 1.7 million barrels to 126.1 million barrels. Refineries ran at 91.5% of capacity, up from 90.5% the previous week.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 9: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:           1.4          -2.9           -1.7                  1.0 
Forecast:          -1.2          -1.6           -0.3                  0.1 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-14-24 1103ET