By Anthony Harrup


U.S. crude oil inventories rose last week along with gasoline and distillate fuel stocks as refineries raised their capacity use, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were up by 1.2 million barrels at 455.9 million barrels in the week ended May 31, and were about 4% 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 fall by 1.6 million barrels.

The U.S. added 898,000 barrels to the SPR to reach 370.2 million barrels. Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, increased by 854,000 barrels to 35.4 million barrels. Refinery capacity use rose for a fifth straight week to 95.4% from 94.3% the week before. Refinery runs were forecast to rise by 0.2 percentage point in the Journal survey.

The EIA's estimate of U.S. crude oil production remained unchanged at 13.1 million barrels a day. A 289,000 barrels-a-day increase in crude imports to 7.1 million barrels a day was offset by a rise in exports, which were up by 276,000 barrels a day at 4.5 million barrels a day.

Gasoline inventories rose by 2.1 million barrels to 230.9 million barrels and were 1% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand fell by 203,000 barrels a day to 8.9 million barrels a day the previous week. Gasoline stocks were forecast to increase by 900,000 barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks rose by 3.2 million barrels to 122.5 million barrels, and were 7% below the five-year average. Distillate stocks were expected to rise by 1.4 million barrels. 


 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended May 31: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:           1.2           2.1            3.2                  1.1 
Forecast:          -1.6           0.9            1.4                  0.2

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

06-05-24 1131ET