By Anthony Harrup


U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories increased last week, while distillate fuel stocks fell and refineries reduced their capacity use, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude-oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 1.2 million barrels to 421.9 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 26, and were about 5% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would decline by 800,000 barrels.

Storage in the SPR increased by 892,000 barrels to 357.4 million barrels, the EIA said.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, fell by 2 million barrels to 28.1 million barrels, while refineries reduced their capacity use to 82.9% from 85.5% the week before. Expectations were for refinery runs to increase by 1.7 percentage points.

Crude oil production recovered much of the previous week's estimated 1 million barrels-a-day in losses due to severe winter weather, rising by 700,000 barrels a day to 13 million barrels a day. Crude imports were little changed at 5.6 million barrels a day, while exports fell by 540,000 barrels a day to 3.9 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.

Crude futures were lower following the report. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down 1.7% at $76.50 a barrel. International benchmark Brent for April, the most-active contract, was off 1.5% at $81.27 a barrel.

"It's a bearish report in my opinion," said Robert Yawger, executive director for energy futures at Mizuho Securities USA. "Everybody was looking for a draw."

The drop in refinery runs and exports could preclude any big draws on crude stocks in the near term, he said. "The refiners are in no hurry to bring back the refineries after the freeze-in," he said. "They'll probably just start maintenance season a little earlier."

Gasoline stockpiles rose by 1.2 million barrels to 254.1 million barrels last week. Expectations in the Journal survey were for a 1.4 million-barrel build. Gasoline inventories are about 1% above their five-year average, the EIA said.

Distillate stocks, mostly diesel fuel, fell by 2.5 million barrels to 130.8 million barrels and were around 5% below the five-year average. Expectations were for a distillate stock draw of 800,000 barrels.

Gasoline demand rose by 264,000 barrels a day to 8.1 million barrels a day, and demand for distillates was little changed at 3.8 million barrels a day. 


 
 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Jan. 26: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:           1.2           1.2           -2.5                 -2.6 
Forecast:          -0.8           1.4           -0.8                  1.7

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

01-31-24 1233ET