EIA: U.S. crude stockpiles rise, products draw on low refining rates
(Reuters)—U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell as refinery maintenance and outages kept activity low, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.
Crude inventories rose by 3.5 MMbbl to 442.9 MMbbl in the week ending Feb. 16, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.9-MMbbl rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 741,000 bbl last week to 29.5 MM, the EIA said. Meanwhile, refinery crude runs inched up by 31,000 bpd, and refinery utilization rates were unchanged at 80.6% of total capacity in the week.
Crude and distillate prices edged up in reaction to the EIA data, while gasoline futures were flat.
"As we continue to work our way through refinery maintenance here, you're likely to continue seeing crude builds and product draws," said Matt Smith, Lead Oil Analyst at Kpler.
Unplanned refinery outages following a winter storm in January, along with planned plant turnarounds, have kept refining near its lowest levels since late 2022. An outage starting at the beginning of February at the 435,000-bpd Whiting facility in Indiana, the Midwest's largest refinery, has contributed to the product draws and crude builds.
"With the Whiting refinery still down, we saw another week with large product draws," said Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS.
Gasoline stocks fell by 294,000 bbl in the week to 247 MMbbl, the EIA said, compared with analysts' forecasts for a 2.1-MMbbl draw.
While the EIA reported gasoline drawdowns in the Gulf Coast, Midwest and West Coast, stocks along the East Coast rose by 1.4 MMbbl to 64.37 MMbbl, their highest since January 2022, data showed.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, were down by 4 MMbbl in the week to 121.7 MMbbl, vs. expectations for a 1.7-MMbbl drop, the EIA data showed.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney and Liz Hampton Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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