U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose by their most in a week since March 2017, driven in part by a build at the Cushing, Okla., hub and a drop in exports, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Oct. 3.
Crude inventories jumped by 8 million barrels in the week to Sept. 28, four times analysts' expectations.
The surprise surge offsets what has been a steady drawdown in U.S. crude inventories in recent months. Before this week, stocks were at their lowest since February of 2015. They now stand at 404 million barrels, not including the U.S. strategic reserve.
"I think we need to see weeks of these numbers to really wipe out worries about how tight supplies are," said Gene McGillian, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn.
Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 1.1 million barrels per day (bbl/d) as exports fell 913,000 bbl/d. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 7.8 million bbl/d, 10.2% more than the same four-week period last year, the EIA said.
Stocks at the Cushing delivery hub for U.S. crude futures rose by 1.7 million barrels, the EIA said.
Crude prices dropped notably on the news before rebounding a bit. U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 28 cents to $74.95 a barrel, while Brent lost 9 cents to $84.74 a barrel as of 9:40 a.m. CST (14:40 GMT).
Oil prices have been rising as the U.S. is set to re-establish sanctions against Iran that have already reduced exports from OPEC's No. 3 producer. Both crude benchmarks have been trading near four-year highs.
Refining activity held steady nationwide last week with crude runs inching up 77,000 bbl/d and utilization rates remained unchanged at 90.4% of total capacity.
However, Midwest refinery utilization rates dropped to 78.9%, to their lowest since October 2015, according to the data.
Gasoline stocks fell by 459,000 barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel gain.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell 1.8 million barrels, vs. expectations for a 1.3 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
Recommended Reading
US Raises Crude Production Growth Forecast for 2024
2024-03-12 - U.S. crude oil production will rise by 260,000 bbl/d to 13.19 MMbbl/d this year, the EIA said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook.
Range Resources Expecting Production Increase in 4Q Production Results
2024-02-08 - Range Resources reports settlement gains from 2020 North Louisiana asset sale.
Technip Energies Wins Marsa LNG Contract
2024-04-22 - Technip Energies contract, which will will cover the EPC of a natural gas liquefaction train for TotalEnergies, is valued between $532 million and $1.1 billion.
Ohio Utica’s Ascent Resources Credit Rep Rises on Production, Cash Flow
2024-04-23 - Ascent Resources received a positive outlook from Fitch Ratings as the company has grown into Ohio’s No. 1 gas and No. 2 Utica oil producer, according to state data.
Iraq to Seek Bids for Oil, Gas Contracts April 27
2024-04-18 - Iraq will auction 30 new oil and gas projects in two licensing rounds distributed across the country.